The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Diaper Drive to be Held at Lakewood High School

    Diaper+Drive+to+be+Held+at+Lakewood+High+School

    H₂O and Lakewood High School are hosting a diaper drive from Tuesday, October 8 to Thursday, October 10. The donations will go to the Cleveland Diaper Drive, which collects and distributes diapers for Cleveland-area families that cannot afford them.

    Those who wish to donate packaged diapers for children of any size can bring them to the front of Lakewood High School between 7:30 am and 8:00 am on collection days. Those involved in H₂O will collect the diapers and retrieve information from donors. Additionally, there will be donation bins in E102 and A226 throughout the school day.

    Student donors should provide their name and the name of their homeroom teacher when they drop off their packages, because the homeroom with the most diapers donated will receive apple cider and donuts at the end of the month! (In the event of a tie, a raffle will determine which class gets the prize.)

    Many do not realize how large the need for diapers truly is. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, about one third of families in America struggle to provide diapers for their young children due to cost; disposable diapers can be as much as $80 per month, and that’s no small price tag for those living in poverty. Not to mention, 63% of the nation’s mothers of infants are in the workforce, meaning that they must put their children in daycare. Most of these childcare centers do not supply diapers, making the cost of dropping off their children and going to work that much higher.

    In Ohio and the Cleveland area specifically, the statistics are just as grim—here in the CLE, half of children grow up in poverty, so diapers are an even bigger stress on the incomes of parents, reports the Cleveland Diaper Drive. Plus, in Ohio, 67% of mothers of infants work, and caring for an infant costs about 44% of single-parent households’ incomes.

    Unfortunately, when families are unable to afford diapers, they can be in a world of hurt. For starters, their children will have a high risk of infection and diaper rash if they cannot be changed out of their soiled diapers. They are also prone to cry more, which, sadly, increases the risk of them being neglected or abused.

    As for the mothers, those who cannot provide diapers for their babies are more likely to develop anxiety or depression due to feelings of guilt…and, of course, they could be pressed even deeper into poverty.

    The diaper drive hosted by H₂O and Lakewood High School provides a direct way to help these families in need. Please consider donating a package or two of disposable diapers next week!

    More to Discover