HappyBottoms

HappyBottoms provides one-time or monthly diaper distributions to low-income children in the six-county Kansas City Metro area, along with potty training screening and education to families.

Our 42 agency partners at 52 locations distribute a monthly supply of 50 diapers or 30 pull-ups for the earlier of 3 years of service or until the child’s fourth birthday in our ongoing distribution program. Bundles of Joy works with four hospital partners to make a one-time distribution of 75 size Newborn or Size 1 diapers to new babies when they are discharged from the hospital, along with information about our ongoing program.

We developed a Potty Training Education program in 2017 to help families close out the cycle of diaper need and eliminate diaper expense. A pediatric nurse practitioner and Parents as Teachers parent educators helped develop the screening tool and video curriculum. Participants also receive a potty training kit, which includes an information booklet, potty seat, step stool, child’s board book, and sticker chart.

Research shows providing diapers helps to alleviate poverty and improve health and well-being for children and their families. We collaborate with agencies that provide wraparound emergency assistance, healthcare, education, child care and/or case management services because we recognize that low-income families face many challenges in addition to diaper need. Using a partner agency model provides access to other services that will help ease the effects of poverty and promote self-sufficiency.

In addition to the 22,000 or more children who needed diapers prior to the spread of COVID-19, we need to consider new families with diaper-age children who have lost their jobs, or those who continue to work essential, but low-wage service and healthcare jobs without access to child care or paid sick leave.

Goals for 2020:
Improve economic outcomes for Kansas City area families who need diapers by reducing expenses and strengthening their financial safety net. Target: 3,800 average monthly children served in ongoing agency distribution program.
Provide diapers to families and children newly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Target: 1,600 additional monthly children served.
Reach low-income newborns immediately after birth with Bundles of Joy program. Target: 300 average monthly children receive diapers and information about ongoing distribution.
Promote safe and age-appropriate potty training to 500 families to close out the cycle of diaper need and eliminate diaper expense.

Last year, we used 675 average monthly volunteer hours to repackage diapers, fill orders, and deliver diapers to our partners. With the advent of COVID-19 and resulting uncertainty of long-term control of virus spread and predictions of a recurrence, we have suspended our volunteer program indefinitely and do not anticipate being able to fully use volunteers again before 2021. Since early March, HappyBottoms has worked to redesign processes and service delivery in response to COVID-19, allowing us to address the diaper needs of our original client base, new needs resulting from C19, and suspension of our warehouse volunteer program due to virus transmission risk.

As of now, nearly all HappyBottoms' partners continue to distribute diapers to current clients using precautions. One larger partner site has temporarily closed, so we implemented mobile, no-contact distribution in March and will continue to do so until the site reopens, and we will to continue implementing this service as needed to prevent service disruption during shutdowns.

We are reaching new families affected by COVID-19 with a two-pronged approach: direct diaper distribution at our warehouse and implementation of new processes to increase service capacity at existing partner agencies. Participants in our drive-through, no-contact warehouse distributions pre-enroll online and receive a two month distribution per child to increase overall service capacity and limit contact. In addition, new families who choose to get diapers at a partner agency with capacity will also pre-enroll online. HappyBottoms staff
will enter client data and assign the family to the designated agency to ease partner administrative load, increase service capacity, and reduce contact and risk.

Pre-COVID-19, HappyBottoms diapers were repackaged by volunteers in 25 packs to ease distribution and tracking, but we have suspended our volunteer program because of virus transmission risk. Staff now distributes diapers in the irregular quantities of original manufacturer’s packaging, which prevents the need for repackaging, but makes purchase planning, logistics, and distribution tracking much more difficult. One of our suppliers provides machine-wrapped diapers in 25-packs, and pending size availability and cost, we will use this option so staff can plan more accurately, fill orders more efficiently, and distribute consistent quantities.

Continuing our mission in light of COVID-19 will be challenging, but we have skilled staff in place to ensure that we continue services to current clients and expand to families with new need because of the pandemic.

We have redesigned our service model and processes in response to COVID-19, and we have begun program expansion with our first direct distribution event. We will do direct distribution 2-4 times per month depending on demand, and we will support our partner agencies in their efforts to increase capacity and serve more children.