You may or may not know but Nashville families are struggling in a big way. 1 in 3 families, to be specific. You may even know someone who is struggling. Maybe you can think of a friend or two right now who just need a little hand up. Diapers are such an essential part of raising a baby and maybe you don’t even realize just how many people struggle to afford enough diapers to meet the needs of their babies. Babies go through roughly 12 diapers per day. As you may imagine, that can get expensive, especially when you live paycheck to paycheck.
Diapers are currently considered a ‘non-essential’ item by the federal government and are classified right alongside cigarettes, so there is no government assistance for families in need of them.
Every year, we plan and host Nashville Diaper Dash, a 5k race and diaper drive to collect diapers to donate to Nashville Diaper Connection, our area’s nonprofit diaper bank network. Over the last few years, Nashville Diaper Dash has quickly become Nashville Diaper Connection’s biggest private fundraiser. If you have never checked out Nashville Diaper Connection or talked to Doug Adair, the founder, you should. He is incredibly passionate about helping close the diaper gap in our own backyard and his entire team is amazing. Arielle and I have been so touched getting to know him, his vision, and his team and we have all cried together on multiple occasions when we have been able to see the direct impact of the work being done for the community and all those willing to come together to support the cause.
We were recently invited to St Luke’s Community House, a wonderful nonprofit organization doing so much good for Nashville, to help wrap diapers with Martina McBride’s Team Music is Love. Through Huggies, Martina McBride donated 53,000 diapers to Nashville Diaper Connection. Team Music is Love volunteers from five states made the trip to help babies in need by spending the morning wrapping diapers to be distributed to Nashville families. So many babies will have clean, dry diapers because of amazing people like Martina McBride and her crew.
At the diaper wrapping event, we had the honor of meeting Joanne Goldblum, president of the National Diaper Bank. Diaper need isn’t just isolated to Nashville. Families all over the country are struggling to afford this basic need of diapers for their babies. Organizations like the National Diaper Bank are raising the awareness of this incredible need. No baby should ever need to sit for an extended period of time in a soiled diaper and no parent should have to choose between buying food or diapers.
After the diaper wrapping festivities, we toured St Luke’s, where we learned that not only do they distribute families with the diapers from Nashville Diaper Connection, but they also provide childcare, donate groceries and meals for families, and care for seniors. They even have people to assist low income families with doing their taxes.
Nashville families are struggling, but through amazing organizations like Nashville Diaper Connection, Team Music is Love, National Diaper Bank, and St Luke’s Community House, families are given a chance to survive and eventually thrive.
“While it may seem small, the ripple effects of small things is extraordinary.” – Matt Bevin
Keep up the amazing work, Nashville! Together, we will change Nashville.
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