MANSFIELD — Raising kids isn’t cheap.
Just ask Michelle Simon. The Mansfield woman is raising four sisters placed in her care due to their mother’s struggles with addiction.
As a kinship caregiver, Simon is responsible for her youngest daughter’s child care costs, including $250 a week in tuition, plus diapers and wipes.
Simon is raising the girls with her boyfriend, but sometimes money is tight. She makes too much as a pharmacy tech to qualify for child care subsidies.
Her child care provider is supportive, allowing her to pay late depending on when her paycheck comes in. Simon also gets help in the form of extra diapers for her youngest daughter.
Once a month, Simon receives diapers from the Community Health Access Project (CHAP), which partners with a local diaper bank to distribute sanitary supplies to families in need.
Every now and then, she’ll attend another diaper distribution in town if her supply is especially low.
“It’s super helpful because I do pay a lot in day care, so sometimes it’s challenging,” she said. “Day care likes to have so many diapers on hand so they don’t run out. Sometimes I’m buying two to three boxes a month.”
The number of diapers varies — sometimes it’s a box, other times it’s a sleeve.
“It depends how much their donations bring in,” Simon said. “I use the Sam’s Club diapers because they’re the only ones I’ve found that she doesn’t have a reaction to.”
Where can I access free diapers?
Diaper banks across the country provide supplies to families in need.
These organizations often parter with distributors like food banks, churches, social service organizations and government entities.
For free, confidential information on diaper distribution sites in your area, call 211 or text your zip code to 898-211.
One report found nearly half of families struggle to afford diapers
In a 2023 survey commissioned by the National Diaper Bank Network, almost half of families reported they could not afford enough diapers to keep their infant clean, dry and healthy.
One in four of those parents and caregivers said they’d missed school or work because they did not have enough diapers to drop their child off at child care. They reported missing an average of five workdays a month.
Susan Martin, data manager for the YWCA of North Central Ohio, said it’s common for child care providers to require families to supply their own diapers and wipes.
Some may do so because of cost, though that’s not the only reason. Families may want their child to wear (or avoid) specific diapers and wipe brands due to allergies, skin sensitivities or simply as a matter of preference.
Rationing diapers can have negative health outcomes for little ones
Experts say a lack of diapers can negatively impact a child’s health by causing diaper rashes, urinary tract infections and even chronic stress.
One study found that diaper need is associated with a higher rate of pediatric care visits.
“Parents are now having to ration diapers,” said Jonathan Tirado, a pastor at Crossroads Church in Mansfield. “They have to make choices whether they change their diaper, if a diaper’s full enough.”
“Families end up in this cycle where they’re out of work, so they can’t afford the diapers to send the child to daycare.”
Lara Ashley, cofounder of time for a change diaper bank
Tirado is the pastor of Crossroads City Center, a downtown campus dedicated to providing for the practical needs of low-income residents in Richland County.
Visitors can access laundry machines, haircuts, bike repairs — and diapers. After receiving multiple requests for diapers, the church established a special fund.
Donated pallets and parishioner contributions enabled the church to give out 19,000 diapers last year, Tirado said.
This year, his goal is 50,000.
Demrie Alonzo has also seen the need first-hand. She runs the Shelby Diaper Pantry, a volunteer-run initiative that serves around 80 families a month.
“When we started, we were distributing around 600 diapers per month. We are now up to 4,300 per month,” she said. “We often get tearful thanks from parents who have lost jobs or aren’t able to make ends meet.”
Volunteer diaper banks aim to bridge the gap
Tirado and others said diaper need doesn’t just hurt babies — it negatively impacts families’ overall financial stability. Without diapers, babies can’t attend child care and their caregivers can’t go to work or school.
While low-income families can qualify for state-subsidized child care, they’re still on the hook for diaper costs. Programs like SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) and WIC provide grocery funds, but those funds can’t be used on diapers.
Those realities prompted Lara Ashley and her mother, Jewell Weiss, to found a non-profit diaper bank in Richland County in 2022.
“I started doing a little research to see how families were expected to get diapers when they don’t have an income. There wasn’t anything,” Ashley said. “Families end up in this cycle where they’re out of work, so they can’t afford the diapers to send the child to day care.”
Time for a Change distributes diapers through a network of partner agencies, including churches, social service organizations and government agencies.
“We often get tearful thanks from parents who have lost jobs or aren’t able to make ends meet.”
Demrie alonzo, shelby diaper pantry
“We’ve had so many thank-you notes,” Ashley said. “Often it’s families that really only need support for a month or two because they’re between jobs or they have an unexpected bill.”
The organization is completely volunteer-run. Ashley and Weiss purchase diapers in bulk (sometimes by the pallet) and store them in a donated space. They recruit volunteers to sort and wrap them for distribution.
“It’s really a team effort,” Ashley said. “We have so many wonderful supporters in the community.”
Time for a Change aims to ensure families can access between 30 and 50 free diapers each month.
Ashley said they based that figure on a study conducted by Huggies, which found 50 free diapers a month can bridge the gap for families experiencing diaper need.
“We don’t want families to not have any responsibility for providing diapers, but we want to kind of get them over that hump,” Ashley said.
“Our goal is to be able to provide ongoing support to these families so that they can get to a stable place and really break that cycle of poverty.”
Where to find diapers help near you
Some policy organizations argue diaper banks are an important tool for addressing diaper need, but not a comprehensive solution.
In a policy brief for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty, Judith Siers-Poisson suggested a multi-pronged approach.
Allowing families to purchase diapers with SNAP and WIC benefits would offer caregivers more flexibility. Classifying them as a medical necessity would allow parents and guardians to purchase diapers using Medicaid or a Health Savings Account (HSA).
In the meantime, diaper banks continue to leverage volunteers, community donations and grant dollars.
Time for a Change gave away 70,000 diapers in 2025.
But based on requests for partner organizations, Ashley said she still doesn’t think they are meeting the full needs of residents in Richland County.
By their estimate, that would take around 400,000 diapers per year.
“We would love to someday expand but we’ve got a long, long way to go,” Ashley said. “We’re grateful to anyone that can support us, even if that’s just spreading the word that we exist.”