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Susan Speese and her husband, Rick, are working to create Healthy Steps, a nonprofit diaper bank to help families in need.

(Courtesy of the Speese family)

After 15 years of helping mothers in crisis, working at a children's home, and raising two children with her husband Rick, Susan Speese of Swatara Township kept seeing one glaring need.

Diapers.

One in three families today are struggling to afford diapers, she said, with many caretakers forced to reuse them.

Bryce McMinn, executive director of Morning Star Pregnancy Services, said he sees this need all the time.

He said “financial constraints” are mentioned as a reason for an abortion by about 80 to 85 percent of women seeking to end their pregnancies, and he said the cost of diapers doesn’t help.

Bottom line: “Diapers are a huge problem.”

“People often come and say, ‘I have no formula and no diapers, and I don’t get a check until next week,'” McMinn said. And to compound the problem, women cannot use food stamps or Women, Infants and Children (WIC) vouchers to buy diapers.

After retiring recently and doing much soul-searching, Speese had an epiphany. She decided to fill this hole in the safety net by launching the area’s first diaper bank.

How it works

A diaper bank operates much like a food bank.

It collects, stores and helps distribute free diapers to homeless shelters, food pantries, family service agencies and faith-based organizations.

The diapers will be donated by churches, nonprofits, businesses, individuals, pediatricians' practices, high school service clubs, scouting troops, and similar groups who agree to host diaper drives.

When her 501 (c) (3) status is finalized, individual donors and companies will also be able to contribute money directly to the drive, and the diaper bank can purchase diapers with those funds.

The need for diapers is about far more than dry crib sheets, Speese said.

Called Healthy Steps, Speese's bank will be part of a national network that is popping up to fill what has been called a "silent crisis."

According to the National Diaper Bank Network, the average infant or toddler averages 50 diaper changes per week over three years. Diapers can run $150 a month per baby. Parents of multiples, parents of children with disabilities, and adults with incontinence issues are especially hard-hit.

Healthy Steps’ office headquarters will be at Speese’s house for now, with her husband Rick as her "chief volunteer" and diaper runner, and her mom Helen Stepp as her inspiration.

Speese plans to partner with YWCA to help their children in day care.

"My vision is that we would reach out to every organization in the area that would be needing diapers. I have no idea how far this can reach." Adult diapers would also be collected.

Speese aims to work through organizations instead of giving directly to individuals. She envisions that social workers will give out diapers when they visit homes with infants and toddlers.

She also said many regional retailers and distributors donate excess or mispackaged diapers that cannot be sold.

Speese's mission is to keep children "clean, dry and healthy," knowing that "changing diapers changes lives."

Addressing a serious need

When a young mother or father cannot afford diapers, a cascade of negative consequences may follow, Speese said.

Parents probably cannot enroll the infant in day care, which may prevent a mom from working and plunge her family further into poverty. Her baby may be prone to diaper rash, infection and discomfort, which can lead to a host of physical ailments, cognitive issues and even child abuse and neglect. Physical ailments linked to dirty diapers include hepatitis A, viral meningitis, and severe bacterial diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and death.

In some areas, thieves are not stealing jewelry or cash: they are lifting jumbo packs of diapers.

If a single mom cannot enroll her baby in day care, she cannot work, and "It creates a loop of dysfunction for them," said Speese.

According to Consumer Reports, parents will pay an average of $1,600 to $2,500 a year for diapers, depending on the number of diaper changes a day.

Speese's diaper bank will collect only disposable diapers because most childcares require babies to have a day’s supply, with many childcare facilities turning away babies with cloth diapers. And many impoverished moms and dads lack a washer and dryer of their own and must use laundromats, which often do not permit the laundering of cloth diapers. McMinn pointed out that the $3 cost of a load of laundry is cost-prohibitive for a lower-income family using cloth diapers.

Some help is available now

Midstate food banks and other service organizations try to collect diapers along with other necessities, but demand always exceeds supply.

According to Brad Peterson, director of communications and marketing for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, they received 408 cases of diapers in 2013 and 198 cases in 2012. In 2011, due in part to the floods of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, they received 3,767 cases of diapers, but in 2009, they received none.

“As you can see, diapers are hard to come by and donations are unpredictable," Peterson said.

“In 2011, the large donation came from Proctor & Gamble, along with other paper products, to help flooding victims,” Peterson said.

Peterson said the donations typically come from manufacturers or retailers.

The Food Bank currently has approximately 250 cases of diapers in stock.

“When we do have them, they are gone very quickly. We can’t keep them on our shelves,” Peterson said.

McMinn of Morning Star Services said they often post the need for diapers on Facebook and Twitter. He even had someone mail diapers to them from Tennessee. Morning Star gives packs of 12 diapers to moms in need, which he ruefully acknowledges will only last about two days. Mothers are discouraged from seeking help more than once a month so that the center can serve other mothers in need as well.

“To completely meet our existing clients’ diaper needs would take a minimum of 30,000 diapers per month,” McMinn said, and they only get about 2,000 a month to give out –“not even close to what is needed.”

The need is well over 360,000 diapers, McMinn said, and not just at Morningstar. Their current supply is only 24,000 per year. So they only meet about six percent of the area’s need.

Similarly, Lori Peters of Carlisle Family Life Center said they give diapers to mothers in need but they can only give out two dozen smaller-size diapers or 10 diapers for bigger sizes to moms, once every two weeks.

The Center helped 1,200 people in the past year, Peters said, with diapers and more.

“It would be fabulous to have a diaper bank,” Peters said. “Diapers are a huge outlay in someone’s budget if they’re not prepared.”

How to help the Healthy Steps Diaper Bank

Readers interested in helping Healthy Steps Diaper Bank get a fresh start can call Susan Speese at 717- 919-2590 or email her at sspeese@healthystepsdiaperbank.com. If you want to coordinate a diaper drive or host a baby shower for diapers, she will provide educational materials and support, along with boxes for the collection, and pick up diapers when the drive is completed.

Her website is www.healthystepsdiaperbank.com.

Although supplies vary, other possible sites for struggling parents to obtain help with diapers include the following: