Providing For Your Baby Shouldn’t Be A Struggle

A baby uses on average eight diapers a day which adds up to more than 2,800 diapers a year. Now what if you were always short of diapers? This is the unfortunate reality for one in five Calgary moms, who are right now struggling to provide their babies with clean diapers. They are expensive, with the cost of diapers for one year averaging at $850  – the equivalent to a month of groceries for a family of four.

If you are already struggling to put food on the table, imagine what the cost of diapers will do to your budget. That is why some families cut back on essentials, like food, utilities, and medicine in order to afford enough diapers for their children. This adds tension to the already difficult task of parenting and a baby’s emotional and physical health can suffer when exposed to stressful environments for long periods of time.

When passionate volunteer Kristina Prins discovered that there was a connection with diaper need and food insecure families, she decided to start the Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive. Now in its sixth year, this campaign has not only collects over 130,000 diapers annually, but generates important awareness around the issue of diaper need in our city.

39 % of Calgary Food Bank clients are children. In 2017, we provided more than 15,000 hampers with diapers for families in need – it totaled an amazing 300,000 diapers. Unless designated, we cannot use funds to purchase non-food related items and so we rely on the generous donations of diapers.

This Mother’s Day and all during the month of May, the Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive asks Calgarians to donate new or opened diaper packages. Or you can designated funds to purchase diapers in the months to come. Check out the map for the diaper drop off location nearest you!

From all of us at the Calgary Food Bank, thank you for making someone’s Mother’s Day happy!