HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — Inside the Baby Basics closet at the YWCA High Point, visitors will find free clothes, baby formula and diapers.
“A lot of people are very grateful,” Director of the Women’s Resource Center at YWCA High Point Regina Johnson said. “One lady said to me, ‘I don’t know what I was going to do because I was down to my last diaper.’”
That’s a decision Michelle Schaefer-Old never wants families to face and what led her to launch the Diaper Bank of North Carolina in 2013 from her kitchen table in Durham.
“Diapers are critical … Without them, babies cannot thrive,” said Schaefer-Old, founder and CEO of the Diaper Bank of NC. Government assistance programs like WIC and food stamps do not cover diapers.
Today, the Diaper Bank distributes 5.5 million diapers each year at no cost to organizations across the state that work with families, including the YWCA High Point.
“We know that if someone is struggling with diapers, they’re struggling with other needs, and we want them connected to programs that can help them in multiple ways,” Schaefer-Old said.