Every Baby Needs Them, Half of Kalamazoo Can't Afford Them
Today marks the beginning of National Diaper Need Awareness Week. This week is a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the lack of access to diapers that many families face. We want to take a moment to look at how diaper need affects Kalamazoo.
Despite being something every child will use at some point, half of the families in Kalamazoo with young children do not have access to an adequate supply of diapers. And it’s no surprise: 38% of Kalamazoo county households don’t make enough to survive. With the average monthly cost of diapers rising to $100, it’s a conversation of food or Pampers.
For families experiencing diaper need, there are no state or federal programs designed to help with diapers. It is for all of these reasons that Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson issued a city proclamation for National Diaper Need Awareness Week. It is for all of these reasons that Care Collective exists.
This week, we are asking you to do one thing: spread awareness. While donations and volunteering are always welcome, it is an uphill battle to produce real change and we need your voices to do it. Follow us on social media, tell a coworker about diaper need, encourage a family member to visit our website. If you aren’t a Kalamazoo resident, find your nearest diaper bank and tell everyone you know about it.
We’ve distributed 300,000 diapers this year already, but if we are going to end diaper need, we need your help making them available to everyone for free. It has often been a joke that our job is to put ourselves out of business. We want to produce systemic changes that make diapers available so freely that an organization like Care Collective has no reason to exist. We dare you to make that future a reality.
