In short supply: Vegas group providing diapers to the needy is running low

This group wants to give out diapers to needy Las Vegas families. There’s just one problem: They are running short on supplies.

The need for diapers during the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic has overwhelmed the stockpile at HELP of Southern Nevada’s Baby First Services, which went from having a year’s worth in reserve to being at risk of turning families away.

The need is so urgent that the minute a cash donation is received, a worker rushes to the store to buy more diapers.

“They’re a basic need,” said Abby Quinn, the group’s chief community relations officer. “You can’t leave your child in a soiled diaper.”

The organization hopes to give out more than 60,000 diapers this fiscal year, more than double its distribution in the previous year. It’s not just an ambition for the sake of giving, it’s giving knowing there’s a true need, officials said.

Quinn said this fiscal year’s diaper output will double what the organization did in 2019, before the pandemic crippled the local economy.

Then, in more hale times, clients were visiting the diaper bank for supplemental assistance — a couple dozen diapers to get through the end of the month after they pieced together government assistance to buy other basics for their young children.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, and food stamps can’t be spent on diapers. But direct cash assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families can — it’s just those in need are using the money for household bills to get by during the pandemic.

The diaper bank is their sole resource to keep their babies’ bottoms covered, clean and dry.

“What we’ve noticed is that our clients are now coming to us because they have nothing,” Quinn said.

Celeste Williams, who oversees the diaper bank, said the need for diapers has become nonstop. But donations have dipped during the pandemic.

HELP had a healthy diaper stockpile a little over a year ago, which it expected to still be able to tap at this point. But this has not been a normal year.

“In the beginning of the pandemic, we were coming off of a good year. Not knowing a pandemic was coming, we had just done a large purchase,” Williams said. “The year before, we had a nice donation so we bought diapers in bulk just to put in the storehouse to use for the next year.”

Now, she adds to the bank in piecemeal — a $100 donation comes in and she personally runs to Walmart to get as many diapers as that will cover (by HELP’s calculations, on average, diapers cost $23.32, per box, per child). Williams admits it’s getting “tense.”

The diaper bank is now making packages with 50 diapers in the smaller sizes when they used to bundle together 30. They hope to do the same soon for the larger sizes. The need is higher for those bigger sizes 3 through 6, or older — active babies past the newborn stage but not walking or potty trained.

HELP of Southern Nevada provides comprehensive social services for people and families of all ages, from rent help and vocational training to making homes more energy efficient, and has seen an increase in demand across the board over the past year, Quinn said.

Baby First Services provides a range of parenting classes and infant needs, from car seat installation to help with clothing, formula and other daily essentials like wipes and bottles.

Quinn said she expects individuals to still need a year to two years to recover economically. By then, she said, she hopes that HELP can return to offering supplemental help. But she knows that right now, people are still making the choice between food and diapers — and a child can go through 200 diapers a month.

The experts know not everyone who lost a job has been recalled yet and may never be recalled, or displaced workers have found jobs that pay less than their old ones.

“Paycheck-to-paycheck means something different than it did before,” Williams said. “Paycheck-to-paycheck before for some people was, ‘Maybe I won’t get McDonald’s this week.’ But now paycheck-to-paycheck means, ‘This week I’m going to pay this much on this bill, this much on this bill, so if I can just save some money on some diapers ...’ ”

Quinn said donors can email her at [email protected] to coordinate drop-offs of supplies. Businesses or groups can organize their own diaper drives or “baby showers’’ on behalf of HELP, or can give individually. The organization is flexible with opened boxes of diapers.

Monetary donations can be given on the HELP website.

People in need of diapers can email [email protected] to set up an appointment. HELP offers diapers at its locations at 1660 E. Flamingo Road and 3755 W. Lake Mead Blvd.