2nd Annual Diaper Drive in Smithville: A community effort

By Sharlene Scheler, Wesley Nurse, Smithville

Over 15,000 diapers collected

I have always enjoyed helping people. My responsibility as a Wesley Nurse is to be aware of the needs within my community and then finda way to help. One Smithville need that I quickly identified was the high demand for children and adult diapers.

Diapers are very expensive so I determined holding a diaper drive was one way that I could help. Believe it or not, there are many families in the area struggling to provide very basic needs including affording something as basic as diapers. Last year was our inaugural event. We collected 4,000 diapers. That was wonderful. This year was amazing! I promoted this year's event by distributing flyers to local businesses. The local Chamber advertised the diaper drive in their newsletter and the local newspaper promoted it as well. The church's Health Committee helped me make signs for the church too. It was really a group effort, even my husband helped. We collected over 15,000 diapers.

All the diapers collected will be sent to the Smithville Food Pantry for distribution. In addition, some of the children's diapers will be distributed to local organizations helping those in need through the My Baby and Me Maternity Home. It is great to see the wide reach and positive impact our drive was able to make within the community. I'm very proud of our success.

Seeing the relief on the mothers and grandmothers faces when they get that big box of diapers for their little ones proves how important this drive is. God is good. I've witnessed his work through the coming together of people to support this event.