With newborns requiring several diaper changes per day, the Larimer County-based Nappie Project has provided tens of thousands of days of relief to babies and parents in need.
Diaper number 1 million was sent out by the nonprofit diaper bank on Friday from its warehouse at the headquarters of Realities for Children, located between Loveland and Fort Collins.
As co-founders Jan Touslee and Rachel Konda-Sundheim helped lift boxes into the backs of partner agencies’ cars, they recalled how they once stacked diapers in their basements and garages.
“Once I reached 20,000 diapers in my house, we started looking for somewhere else,” Touslee joked.
“We’ve had a pretty wide range of support, and that’s what’s made it possible,” Konda-Sundheim said.
The Nappie Project shared a space with Homeward Alliance in Fort Collins temporarily before moving into its current warehouse in 2018.
Diaper need has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as parents have struggled to hold down jobs while caring for vulnerable family members and children. In 2020, the diaper bank distributed nearly 300,000 diapers compared with about 225,000 the year before.
Diapers are bought using donated funds or received from donors directly, and are distributed through a network of partners.
Touslee said diaper banks across the country are expecting 2021 will be an even more demanding year. She and Konda-Sundheim also spoke about their mission in the context of supporting Northern Colorado’s economic recovery.
“People say, ‘So what? It’s just a diaper,’” Touslee said. “But without diapers, parents can’t leave their kids in child care, so they can’t go back to work.”
Child care facilities generally do not allow children to attend in cloth diapers.
“If we can’t get kids back into child care, that’s going to be another obstacle,” Konda-Sundheim added.
Since the pair founded the Nappie Project, Touslee said education and awareness of diaper need has increased. And statewide leaders have taken notice of the group’s work — in September, Gov. Jared Polis mentioned the Nappie Project in his proclamation of Sept. 21-27 as “Diaper Need Awareness Week.”
“It’s amazing to reach 1 million, but I’ll tell you, we’re still not meeting the need,” she said mentioning that diapers given to area food banks are still snapped up within a few days.
“Some parents, they’ll see how many diapers they have left, and they’ll measure the amount of fluid they’re giving their baby,” she added. “They feel like bad parents. … That’s heartbreaking to me.”
Still, Touslee said she was proud of the strides her organization has made toward “helping little behinds get a little ahead,” per its motto, and of the 1 million milestone.
“That’s a lot of little behinds,” she said.
The Link LonkApril 18, 2021 at 08:40AM
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Nappie Project sends out millionth diaper as founders reflect on a year of COVID-19 - Loveland Reporter-Herald
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