In support of their 11th Annual Stuff the Bus Diaper Drive happening June through August, this year WestSide Baby launched a "50 Diaper Drives in 50 Day for 50,000 Diapers campaign" in June hoping the King County community they serve would work in groups to increase their diaper collection for their Stuff the Bus event by at least 25%.

The community rallied with 57 adults, children, businesses and organizations accepting the challenge of hosting diaper drives to help Stuff the Bus with diapers. Several drives hosted in public places are happening this weekend. All of these efforts are in addition to the many individuals they hope to see pulling up to their big yellow school bus on July 24 at Viking Bank in West Seattle.

The Diaper Drivers are all signed up and now they need help to respond to their outreach by giving diapers or even buying lemonade from the many children’s stands sprinkled on sidewalks all over Seattle.

“Because need is rising steadily, we decided we needed a creative way to increase the number of diapers that we collect during this one big yearly community diaper drive,” said Nancy Woodland, Executive Director of WestSide Baby.

“While we have always been fortunate to have a few energized ‘drivers’ during our Stuff the Bus season, we have never had an effort like this and it couldn’t come at a better time.” Kimberly Clark – Huggies Brand has promised WestSide Baby a 2 to 1 match of every diaper collected this year.

That means that all the drive results will be triple AND every family who brings in a package or case of diapers will know their gift is three-fold.

WestSide Baby will take all clean diapers, even open packages your baby has outgrown. The most commonly requested sizes are Sizes 4, 5 & 6 as babies stay in those sizes the longest. They have diaper drive and lemonade stand kits available for more Diaper Drivers. Diapers are essential to basic health and well being for infants and toddlers in our community. “Low income families ration diapers and the resulting rash and infections impact the baby physical and increase stress in families already under great strain. Providing something as simple as a clean dry diaper can reduce abuse and neglect risk immediately.”

A big yellow school bus will be prominently parked in West Seattle at a new location at Viking Bank in West Seattle --- empty, ready and waiting for thousands and thousands of disposable diapers on July 24 from 10-2. Drive or walk up, climb aboard with your diapers and know you’ve done something tangible to help a local family. These diapers are then distributed, free of charge, to children in need in the King County communities served by WestSide Baby through 90 established social service agencies.

Last year WestSide Baby distributed more than 500,000 diapers to local children, an increase of more than 100% over the previous year. We rely on community donations to support this effort.

For more information: www.westsidebaby.org -- (206) 767-1662, 10032 15th Ave SW, Seattle WA 98146. To donate diapers today, visit their Amazon Wish List at http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/AT2DC6TE7SWG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_wl\

For a list of Diaper Drivers visit http://www.westsidebaby.org/news-and-events/news-and-events