Building Community Around Diaper Needs

In early November of last year I went to Second Star of Jacob on Church Street in New Haven. I went to help the volunteers fill out some paperwork that was required by the federal TANF program. As clients came in, I helped them fill the sheets out and they went to the back of the room to get the diapers they needed for the month. At one point the line got backed up and there was a bit of a wait.

As we all waited, the family I had just helped through the paperwork chatted with me about their situation. The mother and father had both been laid off from their jobs and were struggling to find employment. They had both been out of work for almost 6 months and were starting to run low on savings. They were on state assistance programs, WIC, and SNAP, but state assistance programs didn't help to buy needed diapers for their child and their economic conditions weren't stable. They expressed the value of having access to the diapers we were able to provide.

To me, this story exemplifies what the Diaper Bank community works to build; networks of time-sharing, energy and resources focused on filling the gaps in diaper needs.