The Diaper Bank of North Carolina – Lower Cape Fear serves six counties in the region. About a decade ago, they started in the basement of Grace United Methodist Church in Wilmington. After Hurricane Florence hit, Julie Bowling, the bank’s director and the only full-time employee, saw the need to move to a larger facility on 16th Street.
“It has enabled us to take that next step and to grow even more, to serve more counties and more families,” she said.
But experts in maternal health say more people need to realize what the Cape Fear region’s diaper bank has to offer. Nina Williams is UNCW’s clinical assistant professor in the School of Nursing.
“Most people that I talk to, they don't know about the diaper bank, and I'm finding that that's something that has been enlightening and exciting to see them realize there is help out there,” she said.
Williams tells her students who work at the hospital to make sure new mothers know where to find diapers if money is tight.
“And I instill that question into my students, you know, make sure you're finding out what their resources are,” she said.
And sees firsthand the needs that are already present.
While birth rates are declining statewide, those working in maternal health are seeing an increase in births in the Cape Fear region, which has risen exponentially over the last five years.
When Williams, who has worked in women’s health for over 35 years, started at New Hanover Regional Medical Center back in 2009, they were holding steady around 2,000 births a year. They are now delivering more than 5,000 babies annually.
Williams said she’s concerned about access to labor and delivery for rural moms.
“The needs spread out into the region as far as Robeson County, all the way up to Onslow County, and there are only a few hospitals that deliver between here and there. So we are in what we call a labor and delivery desert outside of New Hanover County,” she said.
While there are larger hospitals in Columbus, Brunswick, and Onslow counties, Williams said it’s not enough to fill in current maternal health gaps.
Support for Diaper Bank
While the diaper bank has received $617,906 from The Endowment, and their most recent grant will fund another employee to join Bowling, she mainly relies on her volunteers to run the organization.
“It's just it is a beautiful thing that everybody who walks through these doors, it doesn't matter their religious affiliation, their political affiliation. Everybody is here to help families and help children,” she said.
Doris Robinson is a retired nurse who volunteers every Wednesday.
“People donate diapers, they donate money, they donate just leftover supplies from a family member that either a baby had diapers left over, or a family member that had incontinence supplies. So then they're repackaged here,” she said.
The Diaper Bank of North Carolina, which includes satellite locations in Hillsborough, Charlotte, and Wilmington, receives about 10% of its donations from individuals, but the vast majority is purchased through grant funds.
DBNC can “stretch the donor's dollar almost three times when we purchase in bulk,” Bowling said, and notes that there are no government programs that provide diapers.
“The only way they can get help is through nonprofits and charitable organizations for these basic need items, and in order to adequately diaper their kids, allow their children to still be healthy and not compromising their health by trying to make the few diapers they have last as long as they can,” she said.
While the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children does provide support for baby formula, it’s not always enough. Bowling said she's heard of babies receiving cow’s milk when they’re not ready or caregivers providing sugar water because there is no alternative.
Diaper Bank van, distribution sites
Bowling said a game changer for the diaper bank was The Endowment’s sponsorship of its mobile van, which delivers supplies, including period products and baby formula.
“So if there are individuals and families that cannot make it to our community partners to access resources. We can meet them in the neighborhoods, meet them where they live, and make these distributions so that transportation is not a barrier,” she said.
And when they go into the neighborhoods, senior centers, or non-profit agencies, they try to bring along other local support groups.
“Do you need us to reach out and see if we can find some doctors to come do some health forms for kids to go to camp in the summer, or to play a sport when school's starting up in the fall?” she said, “Can we bring along with us our friends from Smart Start to share resources about zero to five support services and educational materials for the little ones that aren't in school yet?”
High costs continue
Another barrier, and the main reason for the diaper bank’s existence, is the high costs of these products.
“With the economy in the shape that it's in right now, I would say the need is huge, and we see that every day,” Robinson said.
The Cape Fear region branch reports that diapers can cost $80 -$150 per month, per child.
Bowling said the families they serve sometimes work as many as three jobs.
“What a diaper cost back when I started in 2018 versus now. I mean, it's just like, holy cow. It's a big change,” she said.
Bowling said, in terms of current diaper requests, they really need the larger sizes, because “kiddos go through like, four or five sizes in the first year of life, and then in the second year of life, they stay in sizes longer. And so we tend not to get as many of those.”
And while there’s always a need for these products, Williams said she hopes the community can change the fact that half of families need this type of assistance.
“I do want to try to figure out how we can reduce this need, even if we reduce it to one in three people who have problems, to me, that would be a first step. I use a lot of baby analogies, so if we could just take one little baby step.”
Williams, Bowling, and Robinson all encourage non-profits, churches, and individuals to hold their own diaper drives to help fill this perpetual need.
