Diaper Bank to make first diaper delivery to needy families in Fayetteville

The bank receives hundreds of requests from active duty military families, who can't afford to buy enough diapers for their young children.

Posted 7:03 p.m. Jun 1, 2017 — Updated 7:03 p.m. Jun 1, 2017

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

The Diaper Bank of North Carolina will start serving families in the Fayetteville and Fort Bragg areas early this month with a mobile diaper bank they have dubbed "The Truckload of Hope."

The Durham-based Diaper Bank received a grant from the National Diaper Bank Network earlier this year to help needy families in the Fort Bragg and Fayetteville area. A recent survey of North Carolina active duty military families found that 63 percent of respondents felt having enough diapers was a significant concern and 74 percent felt that diapers were a significant expense, according to the Diaper Bank.

“We receive hundreds of requests for diapers from military families and from support organizations working with military families,” said Michelle Old, the Diaper Bank's executive director, in a press release.

The North Carolina diaper bank was one of four groups to win a $10,000 grant from the National Diaper Bank Network. The money helped to pay to get the truck ready for deliveries. It will travel to Cumberland County monthly to distribute diapers to military families at Fort Bragg and others in the area.

The diaper bank is working with Partnership for Children of Cumberland County to identify and register families in need. Both military families and civilian families are eligible to receive diapers. The initial shipment will serve 250 families.

“Our collaboration with the Diaper Bank of North Carolina will allow us to further address the unique needs of families with young children in the Cumberland County area," said Mary Sonnenberg, president of the Partnership for Children, in a press release. "Many families struggle with meeting very basic needs of their children, including diapers. This partnership is one way to bridge the gap in meeting these needs for families. It is exciting to bring the Diaper Bank to Cumberland County via a mobile unit.”

Each month a community organization will sponsor the mobile diaper bank, providing $400 to cover costs of gas and truck maintenance along with 25 volunteers to assist with distribution. PORCH, a Chapel Hill and Carrboro-based grassroots hunger relief organization, adopted The Truckload of Hope for the June distribution.

The Diaper Bank of North Carolina is seeking other organizations, companies and faith communities to adopt The Truckload of Hope for upcoming months.

The diaper bank "has flourished because of support from our community,” Old said in the release. “The Truckload of Hope is just one more way we can come together to ensure families have dignity, health and quality of life.”

To register to receive diapers through The Truckload of Hope, families can contact Michelle Hearon at Partnership for Children of Cumberland County at mhearon@ccpfc.org.

To adopt a monthly distribution through the mobile diaper bank, organizations can contact Old at info@ncdiaperbank.org.

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