“Starting off this year, our inventory is great, and we’re in a really good place to start off the New Year,” said Whitney Howell, Director of the Community Diaper Bank.
MUSCATINE — One year ago, the Community Diaper Bank opened with the hopes of successfully serving Muscatine County families.
This week, Director Whitney Howell was pleased to announce that even through a pandemic, they’ve managed to do exactly that.
On Tuesday, the Community Diaper Bank released its annual report for the 2019-2020 year. In that time, it is reported that 17,435 individual diapers and 698 packages of diapers were given to families in Muscatine County. This amount equals a value of over $7,000.
Additionally, 4,416 of these diapers were donated by residents while 37,684 were purchased by the Community Diaper Bank.
“We held a diaper drive last fall to kind of get things started, so that definitely gave us the inventory we needed to get the ball rolling,” Howell said. “But then we reached out for financial donations, and were able to receive grants from the Community Foundation and from Muscatine Charities. So with that money, we were able to purchase diapers in bulk at a discount.”
The bank was also able to join the National Diaper Banks of America, which allows them to purchase diapers at a discounted rate.
“When we first started the program, we didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Howell said. “We knew there was definitely a need, but the community support has been great and we found out there really was a need, so we’re happy that we were able to fulfill that.”
According to Howell, the diaper bank was partially inspired by a local church that would hold diaper drives as one of the annual fundraisers.
“They realized that the need was much bigger than what their little diaper drive could accommodate. So their pastor kind of pulled some community representatives together, and did some research and talked to other diaper banks in Iowa… and it just kind of took off,” Howell explained.
Once the Community Diaper Bank has the diapers, Howell says that the diapers are then distributed to their partner agencies, which already have strong connections to lower income families and are thus able to effectively give out diapers to those who need them.
“We’re kind of like the wholesaler, and agencies in the community place an order with us once a month,” Howell said.
The Community Diaper Bank currently has six partner agencies. These include Trinity Muscatine Public Health, MCSD Parents as Teachers, the Salvation Army of Muscatine County, Families First, Community Action of Eastern Iowa, and LSI HOPES.
“It’s a great collaboration,” Howell said. “I’m also the director for Early Childhood Iowa, so I’ve worked with a lot of these organizations on a different level. Bringing them all to the table to talk about another need in the community, they all jumped on board right away. It just took some organization to get the ball rolling.”
Though the current pandemic hasn’t hindered abilities to distribute diapers, Howell did say that it has prevented the bank from bringing in volunteers to repackage diapers. As such, any resident that would like to help the bank can only do so at this time by making a donation or by spreading the word about the diaper bank.
She also encouraged anyone who needs or knows someone who needs diapers to reach out to the bank at 319-931-2908. Families who use the Community Diaper Bank can receive one package of diapers per child per month.
“Starting off this year, our inventory is great, and we’re in a really good place to start off the new year,” Howell said.
January 14, 2021 at 01:15AM
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Community Diaper Bank reports over 17000 diapers given away in past year - Muscatine Journal
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