A few weeks ago, I accepted the opportunity to be a Blogger Ambassador for the Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program. To be completely honest, I wasn’t looking for any sort of blogger “ambassadorships” (wait, is that even a word?) at the time. I truly felt like I had found the perfect work/parenting/blogging balance after all of these years, and I wasn’t messing with it. Nope. No sirree bob.
Then I did a little reading about the program and realized I couldn’t possibly say no. I think being on the Tiny Oranges team for PCRF (we were the top fundraising team this year!), as well as spreading the word about The Maddie James Foundation (do you know they reached their goal this past weekend? ONE MILLION DOLLARS.) during this past year opened my mind to how my personal blog could be more than just a place where I wax poetic about parenting, striped tops and lip gloss. Maybe I could make a difference in regards to charitable causes too.
So, I gladly and proudly accepted.
What is the Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program? In a nutshell, it’s a program to help families struggling with diaper need. Unfortunately, many families aren’t able to provide their babies with clean disposable diapers, and are forced to clean out and REUSE soiled diapers. Can you imagine keeping your baby in a soiled diaper all day long? Or trying to clean the diaper out and reusing it several times? I’ve dealt with diaper rashes on a few occasions, and my kiddos were miserable. I can’t even imagine the painful irritation a baby must endure while spending most of their day in a soiled diaper. It makes my heart hurt, really. And what about having to choose between diapers and other basic needs like FOOD? Huggies® recently conducted a study that found 1 in 3 American moms have had to face this choice.
The Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program has partnered with local diaper banks and national organizations (such as Feeding America) to raise awareness, generate support, and most importantly get diapers into the hands of the families that need them. In 2010, Huggies donated 22.5 million diapers and will donate ANOTHER 22.5 million this year.
How can you help? Learn more about how you can become involved in your community at EveryLittleBottom.com. You can find where you can donate diapers locally, attend a diaper drive event or even host your own diaper drive. In addition to these first steps, I’ll be back with programs and promotions throughout the next several months to help support this cause.
Before learning about this program, I didn’t know anything about diaper drives, but now I’m ready to jump in full force. What about you? Are you familiar with diaper drives? Have you donated to one in the past? I’d love to hear any input, because I’m totally learning as I go over here, but I am super excited to help in any way I can.
Disclosure: I have partnered with the Huggies® brand to help promote the Huggies® Every Little Bottom program. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about it here. However, my opinions are entirely my own.
Brittany
May 26, 2011 at 7:09 amOne thing I would love to learn about is what to do with those half empty packages of diapers when my baby goes up a size. I have a huge box of them that I would love to donate. Do places even take opened packages of perfectly good/new diapers?
whoorl
May 26, 2011 at 7:14 amBrittany, that is SUCH a good point! I deal with that too!
I’m not sure if it considered a “health risk” if the diapers are open…even though I totally understand that they are completely clean and unused. Let me see if I can find anything out. It also might be a case-to-case basis with diaper banks.
Maybe you can find the diaper bank near you and call to check with them?
http://www.huggies.com/en-US/promotions/everylittlebottom/get-involved
Let me know what you find out!
KateP
May 26, 2011 at 7:43 amThis is wonderful! I worked with this program in the fall and we were able to donate 5,000 diapers to a local mother’s shelter. I can only imagine the impact that you will be able to have.
Great job!
whoorl
May 26, 2011 at 7:50 amThanks, Kate! And congratulations to you! 5,000 diapers is AWESOME. :)
Kate
May 26, 2011 at 8:13 amThis is a great, great program that’s close to my heart. I am so glad to hear you’re on board!
Calee
May 26, 2011 at 9:03 amSo GLAD you are doing this!! My husband is the local director for an organization that provides food and services to homeless families living in Orange County. There are over 26,000 homeless children right here in our backyard and I know that plenty of them need diapers. If you ever need any help with this project, please let me know!!
whoorl
May 26, 2011 at 9:28 amCalee,
26,000? That is eye-opening. What a noble job your husband has.
I’ll definitely keep you up-to-date on the upcoming local diaper drives!
Beth
May 26, 2011 at 11:39 amI’m not a mom, so please know that with this question, I really am asking, not judging.
What about cloth diapers? I know that they involve more effort for moms and I know moms are crazed these days as it is, but they seem more economical and certainly better for the environment.
I had no idea some people resorted to reusing diapers, and I’m very pleased for diaper drives and the likes that will protect the wellness of all those cute little baby bottoms, but do cloth diapers pose a more “sustained” solution? They *are* reusable.
Calee
May 26, 2011 at 11:49 amHi Beth-
Cloth diapers are substantially less expensive in the long haul, but for many living in poverty, it’s nearly impossible to buy a large or mega pack of disposable diapers (thus reducing the per diaper cost) much less shell out $5-20 for 1 cloth diaper. Also, there is a time and laundry cost– if you live in a home or apartment with a washing machine, cloth diapers are an extra task, but not a huge deal. If you are working 2 jobs and still living below the poverty line in a weekly motel, it simply isn’t feasible. Forget about it if all your possessions are in a duffel bag and you’re bouncing between shelters every night. It would be fantastic to help people move into cloth diapering, unfortunately, like so many issues those living below the poverty line face, this one isn’t easily solved.
Thanks for your question (and thank you, Sarah, for letting me chime in here)!
whoorl
May 26, 2011 at 11:59 amHey Beth!
You know, when I heard about this program, cloth diapering was the first thing that came to mind too. I figured it made complete sense!
But as Calee states (thank you so much for your comment, Calee! You summarized the issues with cloth diapering in this specific situation so eloquently), cloth diapering really isn’t that feasible for many of the people dealing with diaper need for the many different reasons listed.
However, I totally appreciate your question (I think MANY people wonder about cloth diapering) and taking the time to comment. :)
Jessica
May 26, 2011 at 12:27 pmI am so happy Calee said that! I, too, was thinking that cloth is a much better idea but it would be near impossible to do that if you have no place to live or move from shelter to shelter.
Janet
May 27, 2011 at 1:49 pmI think the diaper program is a great idea as well. Initially, I thought of cloth diapering too but am glad that I read the comments explaining more detail.
Just want to toot my own horn and tell everyone that both of daughters wore cloth diapers exclusively, not because we couldn’t afford disposable but because I feel very strongly about preserving our earth for future generations. Washing diapers was never that much for a chore…and a nice bonus is that both of my kids were potty trained by the time they were two years old. :-)
Jen {Tiny Oranges}
May 27, 2011 at 4:19 pmSo awesome you are involved in this program! I thought about doing a diaper drive awhile back and did some research on it…I was trying to see if it was possible to do a totally online diaper drive. Like by setting up a Wish List or the like on Amazon and then people could purchase directly. But I just did the preliminary research on it. I think a combo in person drop off diaper drive & online drive would be awesome. Some people might like being able to physically drop off diapers and use it as a teaching lesson for their kids too. My preschool also did one, had a collection box for necessities.
In any case, let me know what you end up doing and I am so happy to participate and help spread the word!!!
xoxoxox
Jessica
May 27, 2011 at 9:50 pmWhen my daughter outgrew her half opened package of diapers, I put them up on the local freecycle page and a lady came and got them whose home had recently burned down.
Since she was big enough for them, I started using cloth. I bought 10 really cute pocket style diapers from a vendor on ebay for about 40 bucks. If you have access to laundry (or even a sink), it’s really easy. I use cloth wipes too and it saves me buckets of money.