Contributor: Amy McInnes, Austin Allies Intern
Diapers aren’t the most glamorous thing to talk about. Depending on what age your child is you could be going through over 300 diapers in a month, that adds up to 1,200 in a year, and that’s a lot of diapers. As a person who has never had their own child I don’t understand the struggles of being a parent or needing to be financially stable enough to afford the necessities for a child let alone diapers. But I'm sure that most of our Austin Allies families know what I mean when I say diapers are necessary but also expensive. That’s why we want to highlight one of our nonprofit partners, The Austin Diaper Bank or ADB. Austin Diaper Bank and Austin Allies have been partners for the past three years, where (pre COVID-19) our Austin Allies families would go to their facility, help organize the warehouse and bundle diapers that were purchased by ABD in bulk at a discounted price from brands like Huggies and Medline. After diapers are sorted and bundled, ABD distributes them to over 40 partner agencies across Central Texas, and these partner agencies will help families get access to diapers, food, wipes, period supplies and many other essential items and services. The Austin Diaper Bank is committed to “providing diapers to Central Texas families who need a clean, reliable supply of diapers for a healthy and comfortable quality of life.”
I got the chance to ask Heather Trent, the Program Coordinator for ADB, some questions in order to gain a better understanding of what ADB does and how Austin Allies helps them when we volunteer for them!
-How did you get started with ADB and how long have you been working with them?
I was a volunteer at ADB first. I loved how many people ADB helped and wanted to be a part of the organization. When a job became available, I applied and was hired! I have been with ADB since 2018.
-What's your favorite part about working with ADB?
I love helping families connect with our partner agencies. Families will reach out to ADB with specific needs and I can point them in the right direction toward our partner agencies that specialize in their particular needs.
-How has Austin Allies helped ADB in the past year (Jan. 2020 - present)?
Before COVID changed our volunteer activities, Austin Allies came in regularly to volunteer on the weekends. They always did a great job wrapping diapers and organizing the warehouse. After the pandemic, Austin Allies didn’t miss a beat and we began to wrap diapers from home. YTD, Austin Allies members have wrapped over 15,000 diapers from home!
-Since the start of COVID-19 what have been some of ADB's biggest struggles? How did y'all combat them?
We first struggled to get diapers into the community as some of our partner agencies were forced to close their doors temporarily. We were able to combat this struggle by hosting nine Diaper Drive-Thru for Family events. During these nine drive-thru events, we distributed over 326,000 diapers to thousands of families. Once our partners opened their doors again, we were able to resume our regular diaper distribution to all of our partner agencies.
-If a family is in need of diapers and cannot afford them, how would they contact you?
Families can call the Diaper Bank directly or visit our website to see the list of all our partner agencies that help with diapers. We help families locate a partner agency close to their home to get help with diapers, wipes, and period supplies among other items and services. Austin Diaper Bank is not a direct social services agency, rather we are a support agency. This means, we provide over one million diapers to over 40 partner agencies that help over 15,000 families annually.
-What does the future hold for ADB? Any projects coming up?
The Austin Diaper Bank continues to grow to meet the needs of the community we serve. At this point, we have outgrown our current warehouse space and are looking to expand!
-If you could give a message to the people of Austin about ADB and its importance to the community, what would it be?
As we continue to see the need for basic need items like diapers increase, we need support from the community to continue to serve more families who need our help. Learn more about our work and how you can help by visiting: https://www.austindiapers.org/
Typically when the Austin Diaper Bank gives us diapers to bundle and sort, we receive around 7,000, and those diapers are then given back to Austin Diaper Bank and dispersed around the Central Texas community through their partners. When sorting diapers it can seem like a tedious or minimal task but the impact it has on the community is astounding. If you’d like to reach out to a friend or family member and tell them about Austin Diaper Bank, Heather Trent had this to say, “The more people who know about us, the more people we can help.”
You can sign up to help with this month’s diaper bundling for Austin Diaper Bank here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f49adaa2ba7fe3-austin6
And be on the lookout for how you can help as we continue to wrap thousands of diapers for ADB every month!
