Amani Gomez, with Kimberly-Clark and Costco, WestSide Baby Executive Director Nancy Woodland, and Sarah Schilz, Director of Programs all took part in welcoming the delivery of 100,000 diapers to the agency on July 27. This donation is half of the total the company is providing as part of their Every Little Bottom campaign.
Fulfilling a promise, Kimberly Clark, makers of Huggies brand disposable diapers delivered 100,000 diapers to WestSide Baby in White Center on July 27. The company had promised to match 2 to 1, the number of diapers collected by WestSide Baby in their Stuff the Bus diaper drive held July 24.
On hand from the company were Amani Gomez, Marketing Manager for Kimberly-Clark through Costco and Barry Houdayer, Business Development Manager for Kimberly-Clark International. Gomez said, "WestSide Baby is one of ten donation sites that we've chosen as a company. We are donating 200,000 diapers to WestSide Baby annually. We are making this donation through our national campaign, Every Little Bottom. We realize there's a big cause out there around diaper need. One in three babies are not being diapered properly because their parents are not able to provide them with the diapers they need. So we really thought this was a very important cause, because parents might have to sacrifice feeding the child in order to diaper them or they cannot leave their child at daycare because they require ten diapers a day. There are a lot of impacts. Because we're the company that manufactures them we're the ones to step up and provide these diapers."
The average diaper package carries 18 diapers and diapers can impact a limited budget quickly. "The smallest pack is about $19.99," said Gomez, "and the cost of diapers has really risen. It can be a challenge for some parents to be able to purchase those diapers. WestSide Baby has noted many times that the sizes most needed are 4, 5, and 6 and these are actually slightly more costly. Kimberly-Clark however made certain that these were the majority of the sizes donated. That puts the cash value of the total 200,000 diaper contribution at approximately $46,000. The Every Little Bottom campaign will donate 200 million diapers according to Gomez.
The Stuff the Bus campaign reached and exceeded the goal of 50,000 diapers ending up with a day-of total of 55,006 but the whole campaign total, came to 302,000.
Nancy Woodland, WestSide Baby Executive Director said, "Being able to accept these diapers today means that we can breathe a little bit after Stuff the Bus. We can relish the success of it and the way the community responded and to plan a little bit going forward."
To donate or get more information visit the WestSide Baby website.
