Global Links and the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank will hold a drive-up diaper distribution event for the first time in Clairton this Saturday morning.
The drive supports local families by giving them approximately a one-month supply of children’s diapers per household, according to a news release from the two nonprofits. Parents and caregivers will have the option of choosing up to two different sizes of diapers. Sizes 1-6 will be available.
Families and caregivers of young children will line up by vehicle from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Saturday at Clairton Park Pool, 436 Freemont St. For everyone’s safety, leaders of the two nonprofit organizations said people cannot walk up to the pool parking lot and pick up a diaper allotment. People without transportation to the site can contact the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank for help and assistance. The event will happen rain or shine.
Founder and Executive Director of the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank Cathy Battle cited current financial times as reason to hold the event. “It has never been more expensive to raise a child,” she said in the release. “Diaper costs increased 25% over the last two years. The National Diaper Bank Network found that 46.7% of U.S. families with young children struggle to afford diapers, and 1 in 4 parents miss work or school because they can’t afford the diapers needed for child care, leading to financial and professional consequences.”
Phillips Charitable Foundation Inc. is supporting the Clairton event, according to the release.
“Diaper need affects families across income levels, with 66% of families reporting diaper need categorized as low-income, 28% as middle-income, and 6% as high-income. Infants use eight-12 diapers per day, and a toddler uses six to eight diapers per day,” Battle continued in the release. “No one should have to choose between buying diapers or buying food. As always, the need is much greater than the supply. Thanks to the Phillips Charitable Foundation and to everyone who has supported the Diaper Bank and the many babies and families we serve.”
Battle wrote in an email that her organization has partnered with the Clairton Family Center for many years and drops off the diapers at its Miller Avenue location. Previously the two groups together held successful drive-up diaper drives in McKeesport, and she said those will continue.
This is the first event in Clairton for humanitarian aid organization Global Links. “We collaborate with the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank to look at how we can reach more communities that may not be currently served by a diaper pantry,” Global Links Executive Director Angela Garcia wrote in an email. “Many of the communities in the Mon Valley do not have as much access to social services that we have in Pittsburgh, so we looked to bring a diaper distribution closer to them, and we were happy that Clairton generously offered space to host this event.”
Response in McKeesport to their efforts has grown over the past five years. The organizations’ first diaper drive was held in 2020 during the pandemic, and the nonprofits have been holding several drives a year since then. Jefferson Regional Foundation sponsored the drives in June 2023 and April 2024, serving 450 and 605 families respectively. UPMC and UPMC Health Plan sponsored the October 2023 drive, serving 753 families. The McKeesport Hospital Foundation provided the funding for the October 2024 drive-up diaper drive in McKeesport.
Garcia said her nonprofit has been sharing information on the event through Jefferson Regional Foundation’s Community Collaborative, local media, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, area offices, and her organization’s other community partners that serve families with diaper-age children.
“Diapers are necessary to keep babies healthy, yet they are expensive and are not covered by SNAP benefits,” Garcia said in the news release. “Families who are struggling financially make tough choices, but not being able to adequately diaper their baby should not be one of them. Global Links is proud to collaborate with the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank to host our first large-scale distribution in the Clairton community.”
Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank partners with over 70 social service agencies and community partners in Allegheny, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties, according to the news release. In 2024 it distributed 2.7 million diapers, half a million period products and 100,000 incontinence supplies to neighbors in need.
For more information, contact the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank at 412-373-3074 or info@wpadiaperbank.org.
The PUP is the publication of the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
