Almost 30,000 diapers were donated by local Lutheran churches to Lutheran Family Services Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families in Fremont on Friday.
Nearly 30,000 diapers were donated by local Lutheran churches to Lutheran Family Services Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families in Fremont on Friday.
Jo-Ann Johnson, administrative assistant at Trinity Lutheran Church, stands amid a small mountain of diapers in the fellowship hall before they were delivered to Lutheran Family Services Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families in Fremont.
A small mountain of diapers can be seen in the fellowship hall before they were delivered to Lutheran Family Services Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families in Fremont.
COLLIN SPILINEK Fremont Tribune
With their combined drives, Trinity and Good Shepherd Lutheran churches donated almost 30,000 diapers to Lutheran Family Services Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families in Fremont last week.
Trinity collected 21,292 diapers, while Good Shepherd collected 8,665 for the churches' annual Diaper Derby Challenge, which ran from Mother's Day to Father's Day.
"It was a record-breaker," said Jo-Ann Johnson, administrative secretary at Trinity. "Because we've been doing this for 12 years, so that's the most we have ever delivered over there for a combined total."
With 12 derbies under their belts, Trinity and Good Shepherd are now tied with six wins each.
"Regardless of who won, the real winners are our neighbors next door," said Kristie Webb, administrative assistant at Good Shepherd. "That's who we collect for, is for those families next door and the families that need that."
As Trinity collected about 17,000 diapers last year, Johnson said the Rev. Anthony Gerber challenged the congregation to donate at least 20,000 for this year.
"We kind of set our goal a little higher this year, and they really exceeded it," Johnson said. "It just has been a fun event this year, everybody was responsive to it."
Johnson said she knew with the COVID-19 pandemic that members stuck at home were looking for a way to give back to the community.
"They could either deliver them or bring them on Sundays; They could bring them in during the business hours during the week or they could order them on Amazon and have them delivered directly to us through," she said. "So we had them coming in that way as well."
Webb said members of Good Shepherd were able to bring diapers in to the church or donate money, which would then be used to buy diapers for the drive.
Support Local Journalism
Your membership makes our reporting possible.
"They were so willing to give, and especially that last week, we had a push," she said. "We had donations given, money donations that we were able to go out and purchase diapers then."
On Friday, the almost 30,000 diapers were delivered to Lutheran Family Services.
"We're just super thankful," Program Manager Michelle Padilla said. "Since over the last year with COVID and the flood back-to-back on that, we just depleted a lot of our materials that we give out or have people earn in our incentives program."
With the annual event, Padilla said Lutheran Family Services is always appreciative of the churches' donation, which she called "crazy" this year.
"I wasn't sure that they'd be able to do it this year because of everything that's been happening," she said. "But they did, they pulled it off and they did it well."
Johnson said Lutheran Family Services was "overwhelmed" by the response and generosity of the church members' donations.
"They were just really happy about us doing the drive this year," she said, "It really helps them out and helps them reach out to families, and they're recently just now getting to the point where they can actually help people in person instead of having to do it online."
Webb said she is looking forward to next year's event as a tiebreaker between the two churches, but knows that it's more than just that.
"The reason that we do it isn't for us," she said. "I mean, it's a fun challenge with Trinity, but the true winners are the families that get the diapers next door that need them."
Prince Harry won a substantial amount of money in his recently concluded lawsuit against a tabloid, and will be donating the sum to charity.
After the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns roiled the global economy, as people were thrown out of work or took cuts to their paychecks, the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana burst at the seams trying to keep up with record demand.
DuBOIS — July will kick off the 25th annual Diaper Drive held by Catholic Charities Counseling and Adoption Services.
For 25 years, the agency has supported choosing life through its many efforts to support pregnant mothers and their babies, according to Director Nanci Mattison.
The Pregnancy and Parenting Support Program provides families with supportive counseling, information on healthy pregnancy, as well as parenting education, said Mattison. The program is part of a state-funded program known as Real Alternatives, which also recently celebrated its 25th anniversary of providing services to women in Pennsylvania.
The agency, said Mattison, employs six dedicated and committed Pregnancy and Parenting Support Program Counselors, who assist clients throughout a wide geographical area, including all of Clearfield, Jefferson, Elk, Cameron and McKean counties. The program is open to all pregnant women regardless of income who are residents of Pennsylvania. She said women who are pregnant, as well as women with infants less than 1 year old, can enroll in the program and then receive support services through their infant’s first birthday.
“While the program focuses on the fundamentals of parenting and parenting education, community resources and referrals, material assistance is also provided to clients in the form of diapers, wipes, baby toiletries, formula, baby food and gently-used or new clothing,” said Mattison. “Many clients are first-time parents with no family support in the area and rely on the supportive and compassionate counseling provided to them.”
Over the years, Mattison said the program has grown to include group classes to promote healthy interaction with baby such as a “Mommy and Me” music class in which parents are encouraged to sing and happily interact with their baby. The agency also has engaged in a collaborative effort with the Penn State Extension Office “Eat Smart/Move More” to provide healthy meal choices and exercise for moms, as well as partnering with the Pennsylvania of Department of Transportation Car Seat Safety program.
“The past year was a difficult year for friends, co-workers and families within our local communities, many who were already struggling,” said Mattison. “When the pandemic hit and our state went to lockdown, our pregnancy and parenting staff were considered essential workers. Without skipping a beat, agency staff began brainstorming how they could continue serving clients while keeping themselves and their clients and their families safe.”
Within a 24-hour period, Mattison said staff came up with a plan to continue to provide the much-needed supportive services for families, Mattison said. Staff continued to meet with clients remotely via Zoom or by phone contact. This provided the emotional support and connection that many of their first-time parents needed, as well as the other families who would have the otherwise been totally isolated.
Recommended Video
Staff was also able to continue to provide material assistance in the same form that they always had — diapers, formula, baby clothing, car seats and other necessary baby items to families by arranging a curbside pickup for families on designated days.
“Through these changes, staff was able to serve approximately 125 to 150 families per month,” said Mattison.
It is said that it takes a community to raise a child, said Mattison.
“Over the past 25 years, the DuBois and surrounding communities have solidly supported the agency’s efforts in generously supporting and contributing to the agency’s efforts in generously supporting and contributing to the agency’s Diaper Drive,” said Mattison.
Mattison noted that churches of all denominations have participated as well as various service organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, student organizations and more.
“The agency’s local advisory board has acted as ‘cheerleaders’ for staff and the program and has worked to educate the community on the services provided as well as promote the yearly drive,” said Mattison. “This year the community’s support means more than ever.”
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Tucked away on Tucker Street in Raleigh is an organization that has been on track to help children and families for over 10 years.
The Diaper Train is a diaper bank that helps low-income families in Wake County. The program is hosted by Saint Saviour’s Center.
Families need a referral for their first visit and can return for diapers every five weeks until a child’s third birthday or they are toilet trained.
Right now, they are open for curbside pickup on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. until noon.
“On a monthly basis, I would say we generate, or give away, about 30,000 diapers, and we impact several hundred families and kids,” says Chance Van Noppen, Executive Director of Saint Saviour’s Center.
That number includes their curbside service, as well as various partnerships with other organizations where The Diaper Train provides diapers to be distributed.
Although COVID-19 stopped many facets of life, the pandemic did not stop the mission of The Diaper Train. Van Noppen noticed a drop in client traffic by public transportation recently, but he and his team are determined to let the community know they are here for those they serve.
“You know, COVID obviously has had a tremendous impact on everybody, and so our big due diligence the last six months has really been reconnecting with our partners and reconnecting with our referral agencies and really reaching out to our community that we support to let them know that we’re available if they need us.”
You can directly donate to The Diaper Train right now. They are accepting diapers, wipes, and even formula. You can also donate hand sanitizer, rubber gloves, and masks.
The Diaper Train accepts monetary donations. Any amount you donate will have a beneficial impact to those in need in our community.
“For every dollar that we’re able to raise, we’re able to provide up to five diapers to the community that needs them. So it’s really important that we have the financial support.”
If you are wanting to help out in person, now is the time! Van Noppen says they would love for you to volunteer!
“I really enjoy being able to meet our clients, provide the support that they need. But at the same time, I really enjoy working with our volunteers and the group of donors that we have that help support us long-term,” said Van Noppen.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana women and families won't have to pay sales taxes on diapers, tampons and other feminine hygiene products, under a bill signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
But they'll have to wait a while for the tax break. To give the state time to plan for the estimated $11 million in lost yearly tax collections, lawmakers set the tax exemption to start in July 2022.
The Legislature passed the bill by Rep. Aimee Freeman, a New Orleans Democrat, in the regular session that ended earlier this month. Senators voted 33-1 for the tax break, while lawmakers in the House approved the final deal in a narrower 63-36 vote. Passage of the bill as came as part of a broader tax package backed by lawmakers in the final days of the session.
The measure will exempt diapers for children and adults and all types of feminine hygiene products from the 4.45% state sales tax and from any local sales taxes traditionally charged on those items. Women and families in the state buy about $249 million of those products each year, according to a nonpartisan financial estimate of the legislation.
The tax break will put the essential items in line with prescription drugs, which already are exempt from sales taxes.
Ontex, a leading international personal hygiene group, Les Alchimistes, a circular economy company, announced their collaboration to test the compostability of diaper pads.
“Our goal is to make the separate collection and composting of used, compostable diapers a reality”, said Maïwenn Mollet, director of the Fertile Diapers program at Les Alchemistes. “We are very happy that Ontex and their brand Little Big Change, a diaper subscription service present in six European countries, are joining our mission. Ontex has the engineering knowledge and resources to design diapers that can be compostable. Our goal is to create a new circular economy loop with Ontex and other like-minded companies and to compost 500 million diapers by 2030.”
Ontex and Les Alchimistes have set up a pilot project at Les Alchimistes’ industrial composting site near Paris with the aim of proving that composting of Ontex diaper pads is possible, and that waste and incineration can be reduced. The project requires cooperation between different partners: from suppliers of materials, diaper manufacturers like Ontex, to waste collection and to composting partners using suitable technology.
“Together with partner company gDiapers, which has 17 years of expertise in hybrid compostable diapers, the Ontex Little Big Change brand has developed a new diaper system. The system consists of a reusable outer diaper made of cotton and a disposable diaper pad which is designed to be industrially compostable. We are now testing if the diaper pads can be composted on an industrial scale by working together with a test group of 30 families in Paris who subscribe to Ontex’s baby diaper service Little Big Change”, said Annick de Poorter, Executive Vice President R&D, Quality and Sustainability, Ontex.
BATON ROUGE, La. - A bill exempting certain feminine hygiene products and diapers from Louisiana's sales tax was signed into law this week by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
The "pink tax" exemption defines feminine hygiene products as "tampons, menstrual pads, sanitary napkins, panty liners, menstrual sponges, and menstrual cups," including disposable and washable versions. It also exempts diapers, meaning "any absorbent diaper or undergarment used for incontinence in adults and any absorbent diaper or undergarment designed to be worn by a child who cannot yet control bladder or bowel movements."
Currently, Louisiana collects about $11 million in tax revenue annually on the products, according to The Advocate.
The legislation also provides for local taxing authorities to provide their own exemption to the products.
As of a February 2021 Forbes report, 30 states continued to tax feminine hygiene products; 15 total exempted the products from sales and use taxes.
House Bill 7 (Act 449),was authored by Representative Aimee Adatto Freeman of New Orleans and signed into law by Gov. Edwards on Thursday.
A bill exempting certain feminine hygiene products and diapers from Louisiana's sales tax was signed into law this week by Governor John Bel Edwards.
The "pink tax" exemption defines feminine hygiene products as "tampons, menstrual pads, sanitary napkins, panty liners, menstrual sponges, and menstrual cups," including disposable and washable versions. It also exempts diapers, meaning "any absorbent diaper or undergarment used for incontinence in adults and any absorbent diaper or undergarment designed to be worn by a child who cannot yet control bladder or bowel movements."
Currently, Louisiana collects about $11 million in tax revenue annually on the products, according to The Advocate.
The legislation also provides for local taxing authorities to provide their own exemption to the products.
As of a February 2021 Forbes report, 30 states continued to tax feminine hygiene products; 15 total exempted the products from sales and use taxes.
House Bill 7 (Act 449),was authored by Representative Aimee Adatto Freeman of New Orleans and signed into law by Gov. Edwards on Thursday.
------------------------------------------------------------ Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers
BATON ROUGE, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A bill that would exempt feminine hygiene products and diapers from Louisiana’s 4.45% sales tax has been signed into law by Governor John Bel Edwards.
HB 7 defines feminine hygiene products as a tampon, sanitary napkin, menstrual cup, menstrual sponge, menstrual pad, or other similar tangible personal property sold for the principal purpose of feminine hygiene in connection with the menstrual cycle.
The bill eliminates the state sales tax on these items, but it also leaves the door open for other government officials to do the same with their sales taxes. It was sent to Gov. Edward’s desk in early June for his signature and will go into effect in 2022.
When Louisiana lawmakers passed the 0.45% sales tax in 2018 to stabilize state finances, they pledged the tax hike would be temporary, a bridge to balance the budget while lawmakers gained time to work on a larger tax overhaul. The temporary tax is scheduled to end in mid-2025, dropping the state sales tax rate from 4.45% to 4% at that time.
Louisiana currently has the second-highest combined average state and local sales tax rate in the nation at 9.52%, falling behind only Tennessee, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation.
Councillors approve a yellow bag program for licensed home-based child care providers
Author of the article:
Mary Katherine Keown
Ward 9 Coun. Deb MacIntosh wants to ease the diaper crunch for home-based daycare centres. POSTMEDIA FILE PHOTO
Article content
The city is looking at ways to ease the diaper crunch.
A report presented to the operations committee this week outlined the options for an expanded program that would enable licensed home-based day-care providers to dispense with dirty diapers.
Staff were recommending an expanded yellow bag program for which licensed child care providers would register.
“Disposable diapers are considered odourous and may cause storage concerns, especially in the summer months,” the report noted. “Most concerns can be addressed by ensuring the bag(s) of diapers are tightly closed and stored safely; however, if a home child care provider is unable to store the diaper waste, a yellow bag program with weekly collection for licensed home child care providers could be developed by environmental services and funded by children’s services.”
The yellow bag program for licensed home-based child care providers would cost about $15,000 annually to implement, according to the report. Eligibility would be limited to the 25 home-based businesses that have registered through the Jubilee agency.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Members of the operations committee agreed with the staff recommendation and voted in favour of the yellow bag program. Only Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan opposed it.
Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh introduced a motion in May seeking more information about how day-care providers could address their waste needs. It was prompted by the city’s move in February to biweekly trash collection.
Recycling and green bin pick-up remained weekly, as did diaper collection at residential addresses (so far, more than 430 families have signed up for weekly diaper collection). Home-based daycares, however, were excluded from the weekly pick-up program.
“To help with special garbage needs, residents can arrange to receive weekly waste pick-up for diaper and medical waste,” McIntosh explained to The Star last month. “Home daycares are considered businesses, and as such do not qualify for the special residential programs available for diaper waste.”
That created an issue, since most licensed day-care providers are located in low-density residential homes. They would be eligible “for the fee-based yellow bag non-residential roadside garbage collection every other week,” McIntosh said in her motion. They would not qualify for weekly diaper collection.
While it is a small gesture, McIntosh said it could be beneficial to home-based daycare providers.
“Day care for our children is a service essential to the well-being of our community,” she said. “If there is a way we can help these very small businesses adapt to the changes in our waste collection policies, I think it’s worth taking a look.”
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The cost to deliver the program will be recovered through provincial grants and managed by children’s services.
Staff was recommending the committee approve two bags per week, each weighing a maximum of 40 pounds.
“Jubilee, the licensed home child care agency, will purchase the yellow bags from the city and distribute them to licensed home child care providers who have registered for the program,” the report noted. “The program will be administered by way of application. The application will be reviewed to confirm that the applicant is currently registered as a licensed home child care provider with Jubilee.
“To qualify, the establishment must be located on a residential waste collection route and within a property eligible to receive residential roadside waste collection services.”
As part of the yellow bag program, each registered address will receive weekly roadside collection of two yellow bags full of diapers.
While they also provide a valuable service, unlicensed child care providers — there are an estimated 90 in the city — are not regulated and therefore, they are not eligible for access to provincial funding.
While Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti noted the program could spiral out of control and become very expensive if unlicensed day-care providers were to be included, Kirwan felt that if offered to licensed providers, the city should also offer the yellow bag program to their unlicensed counterparts.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“I do believe that whether or not you’re licensed, you have the same problem with those diapers that are only picked up every two weeks,” Kirwan said. “In some cases, two bags every two weeks is enough for some of the home care providers. The problem is the stink if you’ve got to keep them for an extra week.”
Kirwan wanted the program extended to unlicensed care providers and suggested an amendment to the resolution. He asked that a maximum of 90 unlicensed child care providers be allowed to register for the yellow bag program. The money to fund the program — about $150,000 — for the duration of 2021 would have come from the tax rate stabilization reserve. His amendment, however, was defeated.
McIntosh said in May the city is working on a long-term waste plan. She said she expected diaper collection would become part of a review.
“The city already has special residential programs available for the pick-up of diaper, medical and pet waste,” she told The Star. “The environmental services department is also currently reviewing its long-term master plan for waste. I am sure options for the disposal of diaper waste will be on the agenda.”
Council must approve the yellow bag program before it can be implemented.
Parenthood is one of the most broadly shared human experiences
getty
Any parent who has gone through the tough pandemic period will agree that, at least sometimes, it was easier knowing you are not alone, that there are many parents out there who juggle work and homeschooling, who work at night when the house is quiet and you can finally concentrate (unless you fall asleep), and generally just try to keep their head above water knowing this too shall pass.
It’s not easy for parents these days. Society sets expectations on us, the family sets expectations on us, but the highest expectations are the ones we set upon ourselves because the truth is - most of us are trying to be the best possible parent to our children all the time. Parenthood is one of the most broadly shared human experiences. The needs and challenges are (broadly) well known and (generally) follow an established pattern, yet new parents still stumble through the journey as if they were the first to do so. How, in 2021, can this still be?
The Community Supporting Innovators Serving Parents
When Charlotte Michailidis became a mum, she had a bit of a rough start: her son has a rare genetic condition that was unforeseeable prior to his birth. Despite a smooth fertility journey, pregnancy, delivery, and transition home, she nearly lost him at five days old. She ended up taking more time away from work than a typical working mother in the U.S. to support him through his recovery, and that’s when the seeds of the idea for her business - Parenthood Ventures - were sown.
Charlotte Michailidis, founder and CEO of Parenthood Ventures
Parenthood Ventures
“Attending baby classes, meeting other parents in the park, I was struck by how many families - even those with seemingly “normal” circumstances - were struggling to navigate the transition into parenthood - in ways that often seemed inherently surmountable with simple and replicable support, services and guidance. And importantly, in forms that are equally accessible and welcoming to parents of any gender, in families of all forms, and that facilitate handoffs between all members of a family’s care team - including relatives and paid carers,” Michailidis, founder and CEO, shares with me.
MORE FOR YOU
In a nutshell, Parenthood Ventures is an ecosystem for startup founders building the future of parenthood. Quickly upon becoming a mother, Michailidis started asking herself - can parents not be better served? She started to reflect on how there could be so much opportunity, so much unmet need - whether measured in hours of lost sleep, cases of depression (or worse), divorces, lost income, or missed opportunity for fun and adventure, for learning and joy.
Parenthood Ventures just passed 160 startups in the community. 80% of its startups have a female founder, 80% have a parent founder, and 40% have a founder who is LGBTQ+ and/or of an under-represented ethnicity. Stage-wise, they range from a firm idea to single-digit millions in funding. The organization also engages with VCs interested in the sector, and parents themselves, who can provide feedback to innovators as they refine their ideas.
“I realized that, as in any industry, the people best placed to build fit-for-purpose solutions are those who are living (or who have recently lived) the problem they are inspired to solve. So definitionally, in parenthood, they are often parents of young children. And given persistent cultural norms around caregiving, they are mostly female. But the existing infrastructure of the startup world simply doesn’t unlock the potential of these founders.”
Affordable (And Transparent) Childcare
Upfront - a company that is all about accurate, specific pricing for childcare is on a mission to bring pricing transparency to parent-related industries, with the first being daycares and preschools. For many households in the U.S., childcare costs represent the second-largest expense after housing costs. Upfront makes prices public and searchable on its site so parents can easily find the best options in their budget quickly and seamlessly. With information on more than 18,000 providers covering New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco (only U.S. cities for now), Upfront is quickly becoming the go-to site for any parent wanting to know how much something costs.
“Our users are expecting or new parents who want financial value when making decisions about the large expenses in their lives. Since Upfront shows all options for all budgets (for example, daycares vary from $800 to $3300 a month according to our actual data), our target consumer is not specific to income or location,” explains Dana Levin-Robinson, Upfront’s CEO.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are approximately 12.8 million families in the U.S. with children under the age of six and approximately 50% of them have difficulty finding childcare. More than 1 million millennials are becoming parents every year, and they expect to find information about childcare online just as quickly as anything else.
Dana Levin-Robinson and Shefali Shah, cofounders of Upfront
Upfront
The research shows that the two most important factors for parents when choosing a daycare are location and price. Yet, currently, there is no way for parents to search by price. Parents often resort to asking for daycare recommendations from friends and family as well as in social media groups but the recommendations often come without pricing information. Parents also try calling daycares directly but are often unable to get hold of someone or forced to attend a tour before getting pricing information. In the end, many parents are forced to tour a daycare that is not within their budget, causing a lot of frustration and wasted time. When Upfront surveyed parents, they found that 62% of parents end up touring daycares they can’t afford. The company also shares its data with policymakers and nonprofits so they can assess local childcare affordability with actual numbers. “For example, there is still very little coverage to determine how much the $4,000 credit per child Biden’s American Family Plan actually covers. Using our data, we determined that the $4,000 per child covers either 1.7 months of a center-based daycare or nearly three months of home-based. One of our goals at Upfront is to raise parent awareness of home-based childcare options specifically because of how affordable they are (on average 37-40% cheaper depending on the child's age),” explains Shefali Shah, Upfront’s Chief Commercial Officer.
Since its October launch, the company has seen tremendous user growth that clearly demonstrates how deep the pain point they’re solving is - it has already helped close to 20,000 parents find the best childcare options for their budget and also built an incredible directory of more than 18,000 listings across New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
High-performance, Sustainable, And Disposable Baby Diapers
When it comes to choosing the “right” diaper, often before, parents were forced to compromise. Cloth diapering doesn’t fit into parents’ busy schedules. Natural diapers tout “non-toxic” benefits but aren’t as natural as they appear (i.e. baby’s bum is still touching the majority plastic all day) and tend to have worse performance against leaks. Add to this that diapers are one of the largest contributors to landfill waste, and there’s also a huge environmental toll as well.
Amrita Saigal, founder and CEO of Kudos
Kudos
So Amrita Saigal, founder and CEO of Kudos, a new high-performance, sustainable, and disposable baby diaper brand, that recently raised $2.4 million in seed funding, too, decided to do things a little differently. “The Kudos customer — generally a new or expectant parent — cares deeply about what’s touching their baby’s skin. They are looking for the most non-toxic, plant-based materials that won’t irritate their baby’s skin or expose their baby to chemicals that can have long-term negative health consequences. If the diaper doesn’t work, however, game over. As soon as that first “it’s 3 a.m. and my baby has leaked through their diaper” moment happens, we know parents are going to start looking elsewhere,” she shares with me.
Babies’ sensitive skin is more prone to irritation and rash than adult skin. In fact, up to a third of babies and toddlers in nappies have nappy rash at any one time. With traditional diapers, even the most natural ones, the baby is sitting in plastic all day which has been proven to contain harmful substances that can absorb into the skin. Kudos is the only disposable diaper where a baby’s skin touches 100% soft, breathable, hypoallergenic, doctor-recommended cotton. Kudos diapers are made with 4x more plant-based components than traditional disposable diapers; these components are sourced from renewable resources like cotton (cotton is actually carbon negative), sugarcane, corn starch, and sustainably harvested trees.
“If all diapers were made the Kudos way, 500 million pounds of plastic would be replaced with clean, unbleached, natural cotton each year, and 2 billion pounds of fossil-fuel-derived diaper materials would be sourced from renewable materials,” concludes Saigal.
Expert-led Support Groups For Postpartum Women
Nathalie Walton is an unconventional entrepreneur. In 2010, she was introduced to entrepreneurship at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. It was love at first sight. She spent two years studying entrepreneurship, yet, she didn’t dare to follow her dreams. “As a Black woman, I never came across any entrepreneurs that looked like me. I didn’t have the safety net to forgo an income, nor did I have the audacity. I took another path. I spent eight years climbing the ranks of eBay, Google, and Airbnb, where I gradually built the confidence to venture into entrepreneurship,” she starts her story.
In 2019, Walton had a traumatic high-risk pregnancy. As a Black woman, her experience was far too common. Black women in the U.S. experience unacceptably poor maternal health outcomes, including disproportionately high rates of death related to pregnancy or childbirth - they are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women.
Nathalie Walton, cofounder and CEO of Expectful
Expectful
During pregnancy, Walton came across an app, Expectful, which proved to be an incredible resource during a period of intense stress. “While on maternity leave, I came across an opportunity to advise Expectful. I connected with Expectful’s founder, Mark Krassner, who was looking for the right person to succeed him as CEO, and when we met, something clicked. As a user, a new mother, and a longing entrepreneur, this felt like the perfect opportunity at the perfect time.”
Expectful is a wellness app for fertility, pregnancy, and new parenthood, and as a meditation and sleep platform for growing families, it has helped hundreds of thousands of women on their journey to parenthood. In September 2020, Walton joined Expectful as a late-stage co-founder and CEO. In her first 90 days, she pivoted the company and closed a $4.2 million seed round (with an infant). Expectful’s revenue has grown 150% in the last year.
“I’m fueled by a desire to create more equitable birth outcomes, in particular, for those that suffer the most significant inequities.”
Better Education For Children With Learning Differences
One in five children in the U.S. have learning and attention issues such as dyslexia and ADHD, but as noted in the report The State of Learning Disabilities: Understanding the 1 in 5 (conducted by the National Center for Learning Disabilities), 48% of parents believe incorrectly that children will outgrow these brain-based difficulties, and 33% of educators say that sometimes what people call a learning disability is really just laziness.
Jen Mendelsohn, cofounder of Braintrust Tutors
Braintrust Tutors
The last year and a half have exposed massive structural and philosophical flaws in education systems across the globe that fail many children, especially those with learning challenges. Governments cannot move quickly enough. This is why companies such as Braintrust Tutors are harnessing data, technology, and a proprietary approach to boldly fill these gaps in real-time. Founded by educators and parents, Braintrust Tutors is an online marketplace that connects only certified teachers with families whose children have different learning profiles. Its objective is to empower teachers to leverage their skill set directly with the constituents that need them most. In the interest of transparency and accountability, Braintrust Tutors developed robust proprietary technology that identifies and tracks the student's granular deficiencies and gains after every session. After a handful of sessions, a clear picture starts to emerge, where the gaps lie, and what teacher support will yield the best results.
“My daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia late, and despite resources and connections, we had a difficult time getting her the remediation she desperately needed. Simultaneously, my business partner and co-founder Mara Koffmann left the classroom to start tutoring full-time. She experienced a host of challenges in trying to connect with families and develop her business. After taking stock of the disjointed landscape, we started Braintrust,” shares Jen Mendelsohn, co-founder of Braintrust Tutors.
Currently, the private tutoring market is vast and very fragmented. With Covid-19, parents involuntarily became their child's educational advocate because that "classroom" relocated to the kitchen table for the better part of the last 18 months. Accordingly, parents are acutely aware of their children's issues and are often highly motivated to address them but challenged to find an adequate solution.
“We think the best way to service those children is to collaborate with institutions and families because when your child is struggling with learning and development - it's a family issue that, if unchecked, graduates to a societal burden. We engage parents in various ways; one approach is to partner with enterprises and provide access to our services as an amenity. We also work directly with schools, community centers, and summer camps,” explains Mendelsohn. After launching last August, Braintrust Tutors now has hundreds of tutors performing thousands of hours of tutoring support, and, as per Mendelsohn, the demand for high-quality, affordable private tutoring support is “insatiable as parents discover the sustainable benefits it can have on their children's lives”.
“The enormity of the opportunity to serve our sector is genuinely mind-blowing. But what's riskier is the sum of doing nothing. Let’s change that,” concludes Mendelsohn.
From Plant-Based Diapers To Meditation And Easier Access To Better Education, These Female Founders Are Redefining What Parenthood Experience Looks Like - Forbes
GREENFIELD — Looking to lessen the financial burden the COVID-19 pandemic has created for children and families, members of the Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence have donated $500 worth of diapers and baby wipes to three social service agencies.
Using the rest of its fiscal year 2021 funds, the task force purchased several cases of diapers and delivered them on Wednesday morning to Montague Catholic Social Ministries, the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition (NELCWIT) and Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Family Center.
“We’re just trying to lighten the load,” said Mary Kociela, a member of the task force and director of domestic and sexual violence projects at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office. “It’s been a very difficult year, and people are struggling for even the most basic needs. We just felt like this would be one way to lessen the burden on some local families and children.”
Typically, she said, the Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence organizes campaigns and events in the community that fall under the realm of education and prevention, but in the aftermath of the pandemic, it seemed more appropriate to use funding in a more tangible way.
“Coming out of the pandemic, we knew there were great needs on the part of families, and diapers just seemed like something that could benefit a lot of different families throughout the city, so that’s what we decided to do,” Kociela explained.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner commended the task force’s “initiative and imagination.”
“Coming out of a very difficult year, a year in which we saw victims isolated and very serious cases of domestic violence, it is important to do everything we can right now to support families in our community,” Wedegartner said in a press release.
Zoraida Agudelo, project manager at NELCWIT, a sexual and domestic violence crisis center serving Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, said she was grateful for the donation.
“It’s really important for us to have the resources to be able to help the community,” Agudelo said. “It’s very meaningful to know (the task force) cares about the survivors as much as they do.”
She added that the services and support provided by NELCWIT are only possible through a team effort.
“It feels good to know we have the support of the community,” she said.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne
Love of People’s Julian’s 6th Annual Diaper Drive will accept diaper donations at several locations from July 1 - 24, and the final day, July 24, will be a drive-thru diaper drop-off from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at LoPs offices at 1400 NW Evangeline Thruway.
Julian’s Diaper Drive collects diapers to donate in support of local women, women’s shelters, and the aging population, throughout Acadiana. Diaper donations will be accepted at multiple drop-off locations from July 1 - 23.
“This being our 6th year doing this,” said Johnathan Williams, founder of the Love of People non-profit, and the diaper drive. “We've stayed consistent with the message. Helping Others Help Others."
Donations and proceeds will be distributed to charitable organizations in Lafayette: The Outreach Center’s Lighthouse Family Shelter, Baby & Me Boutique, and LoP’s The Lending Closet for aging creatives. Donated goods will also be distributed to The Thendsted Center in Grand Coteau.
------------------------------------------------------------ Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers
Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a new law to eliminate the sales tax from feminine hygiene products and diapers. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Gov. John Bel Edwards signeda new lawThursday that will eliminate the state sales tax from feminine hygiene products and diapers. The tax break will take effect July 1, 2022. The so-called “pink tax” removal, sponsored by Rep. Aimee Freeman, D-New Orleans, is expected to cost the state $11.1 million annually for the next few years once it is implemented. It exempts both temporary menstrual products, like tampons, and reusable ones, like a menstrual cup, from the state sales tax rate of 4.45 percent. Cloth and disposable diapers would also no longer be subjected to the tax.
The new law also allows local governments who imposed a temporary exemption from local sales taxes on these products last year to make those tax breaks permanent. Freeman sponsored legislation in 2020 that allowed local governments to remove local sales taxes on these products last year, but the local governments were only allowed to offer the tax break until the middle of next year. Now, the local sales tax breaks can stay in place indefinitely. New Orleans and Baton Rouge have alreadyopted into the tax exemption.
The “pink tax” exemption received almost unanimous support in the Louisiana Senate, with only Sen. Barrow Peacock, R-Bossier City, voting against it. The Louisiana House gave the proposal more trouble,passing it on a 63-36 vote. Several of the more conservative Republicans in the House, including Republican Caucus Chairman Blake Miguez, R-Erat, and Conservative Caucus Chairman Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, did not support the measure.
Proponents of the tax break argued that menstrual products and diapers should be treated like prescription medication, which is already exempt from the sales tax in Louisiana. Menstrual products and diapers are a medical necessity for women and families and the added sales tax makes the items more difficult for low-income people to purchase, they said.
Miguez opposed the legislation because he believes tax exemptions in general cause the sales tax rate overall to be higher. If the tax base for the sales tax was broader, then the rate could be lower and produce the same amount of money, he said.
“Louisiana current has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country. The legislature should be looking for ways to lower that tax rate,” he said.
McFarland said there was a perception, among conservative lawmakers, that only New Orleans residents were concerned about the tax on menstrual products and diapers. Legislators hadn’t heard complaints from other parts of the state about the issue — and lawmakers weren’t pleased that it would cause an $11 million loss of tax revenue, he said.
There’sa national movementto eliminate the “pink tax” — but only one other Southern state has gotten rid of it so far,according toMarie Clairemagazine. Florida eliminated the “pink tax” in 2018 as part of a broader tax package.
Democrats in the Louisiana Legislature had tried and failed to eliminate the “pink tax” in the past. Former Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, had brought the bill forward in previous years, but wasn’t able to get it out of the Louisiana House.
Make sure you choose a diaper with the right amount of absorbance for your child. Training pants, for example, are not meant to absorb much wetness and can be very wet and uncomfortable if they are left on a child’s bottom for long. If you will be unable to change your child’s diaper for some time and they urinate frequently, you should choose a highly absorbent diaper, or even an overnight diaper that will whisk wet material away from your child’s skin and keep them drier.
Make sure you choose a diaper with the right amount of absorbance for your child. Training pants, for example, are not meant to absorb much wetness and can be very wet and uncomfortable if they are left on a child’s bottom for long. If you will be unable to change your child’s diaper for some time and they urinate frequently, you should choose a highly absorbent diaper, or even an overnight diaper that will whisk wet material away from your child’s skin and keep them drier.
A funny and viral tweet of a Trae Young look-a-like landed a hefty charitable donation to help parents and babies across Atlanta.
ATLANTA — Atlanta's very own Trae Young may be heading to the Eastern Conference Finals this week, but a photogenic baby model captured his attention in a tweet last September and brought a hefty charitable donation to a metro Atlanta baby supply bank Tuesday.
According to a Walmart representative, a fan noticed a similarity between a baby on a box of Hello Bello diapers and the star point guard and tweeted the picture out with the caption "Why tf Trae Young got a diaper endorsement deal?"
It landed more than 100,000 likes and nearly 12,000 retweets -- including Young himself. The Hawks star saw the picture and retweeted it with two laughing emojis. Young replied to the tweet with the witty remark "Trae Younger."
Those laughs led to smiles when from the folks at Hello Bello and Walmart and "they had to get in the game," according to a Walmart Spokesperson official.
Hello Bello and Walmart promised to donate 2,000 diapers to an Atlanta-area diaper bank for every point Young scored during Game 6 on Friday.
The star scored a whopping 34 points, which translated to 68,000 diapers from Hello Bello. Walmart matched the donation which brought the total to 136,000 diapers to the Helping Mamas -- Baby Supply Bank of Metro Atlanta located in Norcross on Park Drive.
"Talk about a slam dunk," a representative from Walmart wrote.
If money is tight in a household, stocking up on those types of essential items can seem almost impossible.
“As we all know, being a parent can be incredibly rewarding. But let’s be honest, it’s also incredibly difficult, and it’s so important to have a supportive community around you to help you through those tough times,” said Erinn Dejose the owner of iStroll Tampa.
Almost every day, you can find Dejose helping parents get in shape.
She’s been leading iStroll Tampa for years and loves giving back.
For her, it’s about more than just the workouts.
As a mom of three, she knows how hard it can be to get enough of the basics.
“Especially during hurricane season, there has been many times where I personally have been to Target or Publix and they’re completely out of diapers,” she said.
All of the diapers collected during iStoll Tampa’s diaper drive workout will be sent to Babycycle Diaper Bank where they are in desperate need of larger size diapers and pull-ups.
The diaper bank’s director, Jillia Koger, says about one in three Bay area families constantly have to choose between purchasing diapers, paying bills and buying food.
“Diapers are not covered by government assistance. You cannot buy diapers with your SNAP benefits. You can’t buy diapers with WIC,” Koger said.
Typically, a family will spend $100 a month to diaper one child, and when you add two or three, it can get very expensive.
And the bigger the diaper size, the more the box costs.
“These families — they can’t afford month to month, let alone stocking up for a disaster,” she said.
As for Dejose and the moms of iStoll Tampa, they’re trying their best to set an example for their kids.
“We are showing our kids how important it is to live a healthy life,” she said.
Along with larger size diapers and pull-ups, Babycycle also needs wipes, formula and extra baby food to help families prepare for hurricanes and other natural disasters.
