In recognition of National Diaper Need Awareness Week (Sept. 15-21), The nonprofit clothing bank, The Sharing Shelf, serving children and teens in need in Westchester County, announced that in the past year it has distributed a total of 309,532 free diapers to 5,556 infants and children for an average of 25,794 diapers per month. Those diapers were distributed between Sept. 1, 2024 and Aug. 31, through 93 community partner agencies in Westchester. The Sharing Shelf provides diapers in partnership with the Junior League of Central Westchester and the Westchester County Diaper Bank.
Diaper need, which is a national challenge, is an often overlooked but crucial aspect of clothing insecurity. While gently used clothing can be provided to families in need, diapers must be new. That means a clothing bank must raise additional funding to provide new diapers on a grand scale. “We can buy them in bulk and often volunteers will organize drives to donate new diapers to support this work, but to ensure that the program has every size needed on the scale required, the majority of diapers have to be purchased,” said organizers of The Sharing Shelf.
According to the National Diaper Bank Network, one in two U.S. families with young children cannot afford enough diapers to keep their infant or child clean, dry and healthy; one in four parents misses work or school because they can’t afford the diapers required to leave their baby in childcare.
“Diaper need is another dimension of the poverty that exists in Westchester County,” said Deborah Blatt, founder and executive director of The Sharing Shelf. “Even in a wealthy county like Westchester, the need is eye-opening.”
While Westchester is among the nation’s wealthiest counties, its poverty rate for children under five was 11.1% in 2023, according to Westchester Children’s Association. More than 67,000 children and teens live in poverty or in a low-income home in Westchester.
The Sharing Shelf is a nonprofit clothing bank, which was founded in 2009. It operates a warehouse in Port Chester, New York, where new and gently used clothes are collected, volunteers screen the clothes for quality and the clothes are distributed for free to low-income children and teens through social-service agencies, schools and other nonprofits. The Sharing Shelf also opened in 2024 (adjacent to the warehouse) a Teen Boutique, where teens in financial need, referred by schools and nonprofit organizations, can select their own clothing at no cost in a private and dignified setting that has the look and feel of a real boutique. The clothing is both age- and season-appropriate, fits properly, and boosts the individual’s esteem and confidence.
