BRANFORD — It was a cheery scene under sunny skies as pallets stacked with 20,000 disposable diapers were loaded onto the Diaper Bank of Connecticut truck parked in front of Stop & Shop.
Representatives from the North Haven-based Diaper Bank of Connecticut and Stop & Shop employees were grinning as pallets were rolled outside and wrapped in plastic.
And while the mood was upbeat, the statistics are a bit gloomy.
According to Diaper Bank officials, one in three families nationwide are finding it difficult to afford diapers to keep their little ones, dry, safe and healthy. And, the cost of diapers has increased 22 percent since 2018, states a NielsenIQ study.
“It’s staggering — I’m sure with inflation that number has gotten worse,” said Maura O’Brien, external communications manager for the grocery store chain.
“Giving these families these diapers could make the difference of paying your rent or making sure your baby is healthy, changed and dry,” O’Brien said. “They’re your neighbors, the children in school with your kids. It affects everyone.”
This is the Diaper Bank’s first statewide drive, Healthy Baby Diaper Drive, with the goal to collect 500,000 diapers kicking off during the national Diaper Need Awareness Week, according to Janet Stolfi Alfano, executive director at the Diaper Bank of Connecticut.
Last fiscal year, some 413,000 diapers were donated to the diaper bank with a total distribution of 3.3 million diapers for infants and toddlers, Stolfi Alfano noted. Of that number, 12 percent were distributed on the shoreline in the towns of East Haven, West Haven, Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook and Old Saybrook.
Stop & Shop kicked off this year’s drive on Tuesday, as part of the national and local effort.
“Today is a 20,000 diaper drop — this is part of Stop & Shop’s first and larger initiative to donate 100,000 diapers to diaper banks across the Northeast,” said O’Brien.
“Parents have had a lot of difficulties this year with the formula shortage, with inflation and we just wanted to make sure families in need had access to diapers,” she said.
Stolfi Alfano agreed and said that COVID plus inflation is like a double whammy for lower income families.
“What we have seen is a change and an increase in both the cost of these items for families and the scarcity that revolved around COVID.” And it affect working families — many who worked in the service industry — care-giving and childcare, she said.
“The inability to get the things that they needed and when that changed, the economic realities were still present for many folks,” she explained.
She added, “… And now with inflation, the cost of everything is going up. That means there’s less income for items like diapers, which also have gone up in price.”
Families of newborns and infants can spend as much as $80 a month for diapers, she noted.
“That certainly is not small … and for something so essential to the health and well-being of a baby and the economic well-being of a family.”
“For the lowest income folks — we know that could have constituted 14 percent of their overall income — just on the diapers themselves,” Stolfi Alfano said.
When paychecks are stretched thin, and there is little money left for diapers, families have to make tough decisions such as changing their babies less often, which can lead to health problems.
“When you think of diapers for infants and toddlers — this critical time for the development of a baby,” Stolfi Alfano said.
“Probably the one thing we hear the most is that families are just keeping diapers on the child for too long and that runs the risk of diaper dermatitis or potentially a UTI.”
“When you say diaper dermatitis or diaper rash it sounds like no big deal — everyone gets diaper rash,” Stolfi Alfano said. “If you’re not able to have enough diapers to change a diaper frequently … magically, that diaper rash doesn’t go away. So that can turn into something much worse and cause a family to have to bring a child to the doctor and that costs money and that costs time away from work.”
Diaper bank client Mindy DeLeon, who received diapers through the diaper bank’s partner La Bodeguita de la Gente in Hartford said she was grateful for the diapers for her two grandchildren.
“Especially in the hard times I was going through in COVID … it was a big help. It was a relief,” said DeLeon, whose daughter was out of work then.
“With two grandchildren, sometimes it’s hard to decide whether we are going to buy food or are we going to buy diapers and wipes,” she recalled.
“And we got help — they helped my daughter a lot. During the crisis — during COVID, the diaper bank was a real big help for us.” Now DeLeon’s daughter is working as a first responder, she said.
Stolfi Alfano also hopes the statewide drive will raise awareness of “the desperation families face in trying to meet this essential need for their little ones” and this will motivate people to donate.
Stop & Shops across the state have several drop off locations for diapers, in addition to Raymour & Flanigan furniture stores and some Guilford Savings Bank sites.
“So that anyone who wants to get involved, they can drop off donations of diapers at locations listed at our website ” Stolfi Alfano noted.
Monetary donations are always welcome and go far, Stolfi Alfano said. “If they don’t have time to go to the store and drop off, they can always make a financial donation on our website,” she said.
“We can make bulk purchases of diapers so our cost savings is significant,” she said.
The diaper bank counts on the “mix” of donations “from corporate partners to individuals to community groups and employee groups at corporations.”
“Those are really the folks who are getting things done at the local level within their communities.
Individuals who have not bought diapers recently are in for a surprise when they make a purchase: “They have this realization of ‘Oh, wow, these are really expensive — I couldn’t imagine having a minimum wage income and trying to make sure that I have enough of a supply to keep my baby, safe, dry and healthy,’” she said.
