O’Dell Center distributed 15,000 diapers to families in need

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Since the pandemic, the price of diapers has increased by 48%, costing families as much as $1,000 a year per child.

The O’Dell Women’s Center in Springfield held its first Diaper Distribution event on Thursday. They were distributing over 15,000 diapers that were collected from the community.

The center held this event to help families with limited resources get the diapers and baby products they need. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, one in two families in Massachusetts with young children have difficulty affording clean diapers.

Organizers say diapers and wipes are expense items, for working families who don’t get social service benefits, like WIC or Snap. “We’ve had about 30 people registered,” says Executive Director Margaret Tantillo. “We’re doing a delivery for those people who couldn’t register. So we’re going to deliver to about eight homes. But as people are walking out, they’re making phone calls and we’re having a lot of people show up or come in that are not registered, which we’re thrilled.”

The center also handed out other baby products like 100 baby wipes and nearly 30 lotions. They anticipate they will have extra diapers..which will be distributed to Head Start and a diaper bank in Springfield.

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