GREENFIELD — Any parent knows diapers can be a costly necessity, and a local group that works to help low-income families afford them now needs a little help itself.
The Franklin County Diaper Task Force is running low on funds to purchase diapers to fill its Diaper Bank as the number of families using the service is increasing, said Judith Weinthaler, the Task Force’s coordinator.
“We are initiating a campaign to raise money to purchase diapers, as well as collect diapers,” Weinthaler said. She said the group will accept diapers themselves, too.
The Task Force, now in its third year, is a subcommittee of the Franklin County Resource Network, a part of Community Action.
Its mission is to raise money and collect diapers for local low-income families. The group conducts diaper drives and works to publicize the need for diapers.
Weinthaler said the group held diaper and fund drives in 2014 and 2015. From August 2015 to December 2015 alone, the group distributed over 9,000 diapers. To date, they’ve given out over 26,000 diapers, she said.
She said the group distributes about 3,700 diapers per month.
About a third of families now coming in to the local food pantries and social service agencies that distribute the diapers are new families, Weinthaler said. Food pantries and family centers in Greenfield, at the Montague Social Ministries, Community Action’s Center for Self-Reliance, Greenfield Community College, WIC in Orange all distribute diapers gathered by the group.
“We’ve managed to cover the county,” Weinthaler said.
Weinthaler said it can be difficult for families on low incomes to obtain the transportation they need to get to a wholesale outlet like BJ’s in Greenfield, where buying diapers in bulk brings the cost down.
“It’s challenging to go to the store and shell out a lot of money, it could be $100 per month for diapers,” she said. “And that’s if you’re living close to the line, and many, many of our families are working families.”
Weinthaler said she hopes this new campaign, which will run in perpetuity, will get enough people involved that they begin running their own diaper collection drives.
Baystate Health recently donated 100 boxes of diapers to the group, she said.
To donate, visit the group’s website at tinyurl.com/j77shwt, or contact Weinthaler at jweinthaler@gmail.com. Posters and postcards to be distributed to the public can be found there, too.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261, ext. 264
or trelihan@recorder.com
On Twitter: @RecorderTom