Cheshire, Hamden, New Haven, North Haven, Wallingford
Monetary donations; volunteers to hold diaper drives and to help at the Diaper Donation Center. Volunteers are needed to collect diapers from drop off locations or diaper drives and deliver to the donation center, deliver diapers to agencies in the distribution network, as well as provide administrative and office support.
The Diaper Bank (TDB) centralizes the fundraising and distribution of free diapers to poor families through existing service providers, including local food pantries, soup kitchens, daycare centers, social service agencies and shelters. Through its extensive Diaper Distribution Network (DDN) of more than 50 agencies, TDB provides over 200,000 free diapers monthly to poor and low-income families in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford.
The New Haven Diaper Bank was created in June of 2004 in response to the lack of public assistance for purchasing diapers for poor and low-income families. Recognizing that an inadequate supply of diapers puts families with young children at an increased risk for health and parenting complications, The New Haven Diaper Bank (NHDB) began distributing diapers to poor and low-income families in New Haven through approved social service agencies.
The New Haven Diaper Bank was 100% volunteer and donation driven until 2004. All office materials, legal fees, evaluation expertise, warehouse space and other costs were donated by friends, family and board members. By underwriting the administrative and overhead costs at that time, 100% of every dollar collected by the NHDB went toward the purchase of diapers. With the ever growing demands of managing and administering the monthly distribution of tens of thousands of diapers to dozens of agencies, the NHDB hired our first part time employee in 2006 to direct the Diaper Distribution Network.
In the Connecticut Legislative Session of 2007, the Connecticut State budget included $150,000 to be spent providing diapers to families who could not otherwise afford them. This came as a direct result of the work that the New Haven Diaper Bank has done in New Haven and the state of Connecticut. In January 2008, the New Haven Diaper Bank became The Diaper Bank as a direct result of expanding our service area into the cities of Hartford and Bridgeport. We now distribute over 100,000 diapers per month to over 50 agencies in Greater New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport.
The Diaper Bank has distributed over 2 million diapers to families in need.
