By Stephanie Bowers | Executive Director
When we think of basic necessities, food and water come to the top of the mind. But many families struggle to provide diapers for their children; one in three U.S. families can’t afford them, according to the National Diaper Bank Network.
In 2011, I founded Jake’s Diapers, which became Jake's Network of Hope this past fall. Fast forward to today, and we are bringing essential items to people all over the globe.
In the first six months of 2020 we did more than double everything we did in 2019, and that was with most of our volunteers also staying home with COVID. It was a crazy time.
The need has grown so much we decided we needed to move into a much bigger location. In December, we moved into a new space in Neenah and have been settling in since.
The impact of a diaper is so much more than a diaper. If you don’t have enough diapers your child can’t go to childcare. If a child can’t go to childcare a caregiver can’t go to work. If a caregiver can’t go to work, how are you going to get out of poverty?
With no federal assistance program to cover these costs, the need is high in the U.S. Faced with a global pandemic, it became tough for Jake's Network to meet that need.
“Most of our volunteers are retired folks who want something to do with their time but are more at risk during the pandemic," says Katie, our Program Manager for Jake’s Network of Hope. "So we lost a good chunk of our volunteer base.”
The community has stepped up, donating money and enough items to fill up the space of the nonprofit’s new warehouse.
“I have to say, the community here is so generous," says Harry, Founder and CEO of Charith International, one of our local partners. "We are getting such good clothing and household items, and they can see it going to people in need, and also knowing that these people build up their lives again.”
Jake’s Network of Hope is now the biggest cloth diaper bank in the world!
Every dollar truly makes a difference. We’re so thankful for living in such an amazing community that’s rallying together to help babies not only in our own backyard, but above and beyond.
Thank you for your continued support! I encourage you to reach me at stephanie@jakesdiapers.org with any questions you may have. I would love to hear from you.
~ Stephanie
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