ST LOUIS AREA DIAPER BANK

By ensuring that low-income families in the region have access to adequate and reliable sources of diapers, the Diaper Bank will:
-Improve child health by: lowering the number of children who experience negative physical consequences of diaper need including diaper rash and secondary infections and lowering the number of children experiencing negative mental health consequences of neglect caused by diaper shortage
-Improve parent/caregiver health by lowering rates of stress directly resulting from diaper shortage
-Increase financial stability of low-income families by lowering the number of parents who must miss work, school or similar activities as a result of diaper need or choose between the purchase of diapers and other essential needs like rent, utilities, healthcare, and food
-Using diaper distribution as an incentive, improve partner program outcomes by: increase number of families enrolled in partner programs & increase rates of kept client visits

The Diaper Bank distributes diapers through a network of 50+ family- and child-serving nonprofit partners - including home visiting programs, health care providers, and early childhood education programs. This structure ensures our help is paired with supports targeting the root causes of diaper need. Diaper Bank partners report that when they add diapers to their program offerings clients are more likely to enroll in the program, more likely to keep scheduled appointments and more likely to remain engaged in the program for the duration of their eligibility period.

The STLDB is the only nonprofit in the region dedicated to ensuring that economically disadvantaged families have clean diapers - and the need is enormous. Since its founding in 2014, our distribution has grown to provide 65,000 local children with 3 million diapers annually, and organizations desperate to meet the diaper need experienced by their clients have been relieved to discover the Diaper Bank’s existence. Starting out with only two small distribution partners in 2014, the Diaper Bank now maintains flourishing distribution partnerships with 34 of the leading non-profit, health, and community organizations focused on maternal & child health, early education, and the strengthening of families in poverty. The STLDB has a strong Board of Directors with 100% financial support, a comprehensive development plan with diversified funding streams, and a team of over 200 volunteers completing 15,000+ hrs of service supporting the operation of the DB each year.

Our first year, we provided 2,000 children with 25 diapers each, a total of 50,000 diapers. Since then, we’ve grown exponentially. Last year, the Diaper Bank distributed 550,000 diapers in 50 count packs to 13,000 children in 68 St. Louis-region zip codes, and this year we are on-track to serve 35,000 children with 1.5 million diapers.
The Diaper Bank seeks to distribute 2M+ diapers to 40,000+ children in the St. Louis region in 2019.
The Diaper Bank plans to add a new program - the St. Louis Alliance for Period Supplies - to its programming in January 2019. The STL APS will establish a network of partner organizations serving low-income women and girls with the menstrual hygiene products they need to stay healthy.
We plan to continue to work at the forefront of public policy initiatives in MO that strengthen the lives of low-income families, increase access to basic needs like diapers and period products, and improve the lives of children in the state.