Help a Mom (or Dad) Out

rebeca  Monday, January 11, 2010

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You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give. ~ Sir Winston Churchill

This month’s do good tip comes courtesy of The Rookie Moms. As Rookie Mom Whitney pointed out in their Activity #168 tip, government assistance programs like food stamps cannot be used for diapers. Not only that, but many food banks and homeless shelters do not stock diapers in any large quantity. As a result, many parents are leaving their children in wet diapers much longer than they should….some are even reusing soiled diapers in order to make them stretch.

Whitney was stirred by this situation and personally pledged to partner with California-based Help a Mother Out to collect 1,000 diapers last September. I thought it was such a great idea that I’m going to make a pledge to collect 500 diapers. My network is a bit smaller than Whitney’s, so I’ll set the goal low and hopefully we’ll blow it out of the water. With the tool kit provided by Help a Mother Out, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to do. I just need 25 people to contribute 20 diapers each.

Do you think you’re up for joining me? If so, leave me a comment and let me know your pledge. If you’re not up for hosting your own rally for diapers, you can always drop a small package off at your local food collection. Every single diaper helps!

Below are some ideas (with additional tips provided by The Rookie Moms and Help a Mother Out) to get you started. The idea is to make it fun, so let us know if you have a unique idea to shake things up.

• Organizations will happily take single diapers and opened packages. So, hit up all your parenting friends for their leftover, out-grown diapers.
• Utilize the power of social media by publicizing your efforts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other network you participate with. Don’t forget to remind out of town contacts that they can use Amazon, Drugstore.com, or Diapers.com to send diapers directly to the organization (often without shipping charges).
• Throw a baby shower for a homeless baby. Invite some friends over for brunch and ask them to bring diapers. Make it fun with baby shower games.
• Host a bake sale at your next club meeting. This is a great idea to involve lots of people for little cost, with a great payoff. Use the money to buy diapers!
• Collect loose change. Become the cash cop and deem it illegal to carry change. Your friends and family are required by law (your law) to forfeit any loose change collecting in the car, wallet or desk drawer. Take your contraband to Coinstar and redeem 100% of the money for an Amazon.com gift certificate to buy diapers.
• Parties! You know how much I like to party! Gather everybody together for a cocktail party and ask everyone to bring diapers. Perhaps you can even get a local restaurant or business to donate some snacks for some cross promotion.
• If you’re feeling extra outgoing, ask your local grocery and discount stores if they’ll donate, or at least give your donors a discount when purchasing diapers for the drive.
• For even more great ideas download the Help a Mom Out toolkit.

All the diapers I collect will be going to The Lord’s Pantry at Anna’s House, located on the near southside of Indianapolis. All sizes are welcome, as are wipes, diaper cream and other toiletry items. If you’d like to help in this effort, you can give a few dollars, bring some diapers by or have them shipped directly to The Lord’s Pantry: 303 N. Elder St., Indianapolis, Ind. 46142. Email theaverageparent [at] gmail [dot] com for more information.