Kelly Maxwell, executive director of Baby’s Bounty, poses for a photo Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, during a tour of its facilities. The nonprofit organization is approaching two milestones: Giving away its millionth diaper and 3 millionth baby wipe since the program started in March 2020.
Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Honey Glover remembers the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when supermarket shelves were picked clean of essentials like diapers and baby wipes.
While Glover stayed home with her children — Harley, then 4 months old, Harlem, 1, and Heaven, 11 — her husband, Juqua, went out hunting for needed baby supplies.
“It was so crazy,” Glover said. “You couldn’t even get into the stores; the lines were out the doors. And if you did get into the stores, the shelves were completely bare.”
She tried ordering from Amazon, but the closest delivery date was months out.
“I was like, what are we gonna do? There has to be something,” she said. So she made another search online.
That’s when she discovered a diaper bank run by Baby’s Bounty, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization.
The group was founded in 2008 to provide items like cribs, car seats, bottles, blankets and clothing to parents who completed a class on caring for newborns. They launched the diaper bank last year in response to the pandemic.
The diaper bank runs once a month at each of its three locations: Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Baby’s Bounty distributes a week’s worth of diapers and wipes per child, said Kelly Maxwell, the group’s executive director.
To date, Baby’s Bounty has provided its diaper bank services to more than 17,000 families in Southern Nevada. It is closing in on its 1 millionth diaper and 3 millionth baby wipe given away.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Maxwell said. “We knew that we just couldn’t sit by and allow children to suffer because their parents couldn’t afford diapers.”
When the diaper bank launched in May 2020, Baby’s Bounty had a difficult time finding diapers and wipes, Maxwell said. The group has since developed relationships that allow it to buy baby supplies directly from manufacturers at a fraction of retail prices, she said.
Honey Glover said she never imagined accepting help for something as basic as diapers. But she encountered people from a spectrum of backgrounds at the diaper bank.
“You would see a Mercedes or a BMW in line, and it dawned on me, there is nothing to be ashamed of here,” she said. “We needed help with diapers because we couldn’t find diapers anywhere. But we’re not alone. There are tons of other people in the same situation.”
Now that diapers are once again available in stores, the Glovers are no longer visiting the diaper bank on a regular basis.
Plus, Harlem, who just turned 3, is in the middle of potty training and using fewer diapers.
But Glover makes it a point to give back when she can. She donates baby food, clothes and blankets to Baby’s Bounty.
“I tell everyone,” Glover said. “One of our friends has triplets. So she really needs diapers sometimes. She’s gone a couple of times and has gotten diapers from them.
“I tell them, ‘Just know those resources are there for you to utilize.’ There’s never any judgment from anyone,” she said.
Maxwell said the program had received an outpouring of support from private and public partners, which allowed it to expand into Henderson and North Las Vegas in recent months.
But there are still plenty of people who might not be able to make it to a diaper bank, so the group would like to launch a mobile diaper bank.
“Basically, it would be a food truck model where there’s an app or a website that tells you where it’s going to be on what date and what time, and we move it around the valley each day,” Maxwell said.
Anyone interested in donating supplies can drop them off at Baby’s Bounty headquarters at 3400 W. Desert Inn Road, Suite 24, in Las Vegas.
Baby’s Bounty will celebrate its 1 millionth diaper giveaway today at its North Las Vegas location, 2420, N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The event will include giveaways, prizes and car seat inspections, Maxwell said.
The Henderson location operates out of the Valley View Recreation Center, 500 Harris St.
“If you need anything, let them know, and they’re there for you,” Glover said.
