With Valentine’s Day around the corner, love is in the air. But how can you celebrate if COVID-19 is keeping you at home this year? Residents Pat Van Brammer and others have found a unique way to share love outside their four walls this Valentine’s season—in the shape of baby diapers.
A recent Denver Post article on the situation opened Van Brammer’s eyes to the need of many low income families who aren’t able to easily provide diapers for their children.
“It will take 6.57 billion diapers to keep every American baby living in poverty clean and dry this year,” shares the website of local nonprofit Rocky Mountain Diaper Depot, who offers diapers to those in the metro area (http://www.rmdiaperdepot.org/home.html). Van Brammer thought HC would be well positioned to help make a difference.
“It’s all about awareness, and how much of a serious problem not having diapers actually is. People focus on helping families get food on the table,” Van Brammer explains. But with limited resources, many parents choose to buy food over diapers. “Diapers are essential,” she points out. “They’re a necessity. Babies need them to even go to daycare.”
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Van Brammer put together a simple diaper drive and is encouraging fellow residents and Holly Creek team members to participate. “It could just be as simple as adding diapers to grocery lists. I thought that would be really easy for people to do.”
Van Brammer has enlisted fourteen Holly Creek resident volunteers to serve as the “Diaper Deputies.” All residents have to do is purchase the diapers as part of their normal grocery deliveries and place the diapers outside their door. Each floor’s Diaper Deputy then “comes through and collects them to put in the community communal area.”
The diaper collection just kicked off on February 8th and will be running through the 19th, after which the diapers will be counted, loaded up and delivered to Rocky Mountain Diaper Depot. From there, they will be distributed to families in need across the Denver area. The program is running on every floor at the community and in the Cottages. Community team members can also drop off diaper packages at the front desk.
“A package of diapers costs about the same as one special Valentine’s celebration. That’s a lot of love you can pass along,” said Van Brammer. “For a lot of people here, we used cloth diapers. But that’s not a good option because these families don’t have washing machines or clotheslines like we did. When I heard that people were fashioning diapers out of plastic basket and lining it with toilet paper, I knew I had to help do something.”
Van Brammer herself received 170 diapers for her 80th birthday last week. Now is your opportunity to jump in and participate. Simply add a box of the diapers to your grocery list this week and set it outside your door before the 19th to join in this effort to share some love with local families in need. Reach out to Pat Van Brammer if you have any questions.
