May 9, 2025 • 20 mins
A silent crisis affects thousands of families in our community, yet most of us never think about it. Diapers - a basic necessity for infants and many seniors - receive no government assistance whatsoever. For families struggling financially, this creates impossible choices between food, rent, and keeping their children clean and healthy.
On this eye-opening episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, Jeremy Wolf sits down with Brittany and Dwayne Wolfe, founders of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank. What began as simple acts of kindness - handing out diapers during playdates - has evolved into a robust nonprofit serving nearly 3,000 families monthly throughout Broward County.
The statistics are staggering: babies need 8-10 diapers daily at approximately 16 cents each, costing families $100-$150 monthly per child. For seniors on fixed incomes, adult diapers are even more expensive. Without this essential item, parents resort to desperate measures - washing and reusing soiled diapers, stretching time between changes, or fashioning makeshift alternatives from t-shirts.
Brittany, drawing from her background as a social worker, shares heartbreaking stories of families taking multiple buses just to reach their distribution events, and isolated seniors living in deplorable conditions without anyone to help them maintain their dignity. Their adult diaper program now provides not just supplies but vital case management services, connecting vulnerable community members with additional resources.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank has grown to include partnerships with 31 agencies, the Broward County Library System, and Memorial Healthcare. They've recently moved into their first warehouse and are expanding their reach through community health expos and direct distribution events.
Want to help? The Wolfes make it simple: donate diapers (even opened packages) at any Broward County library, volunteer through HandsOnBroward.org, or make financial contributions at ftldiaperbank.org. As they powerfully remind us, even one small act of kindness can transform lives in ways we might never imagine.
For more information visit www.ftldiaperbank.org or call (954) 667-9672. Stay up to date on our socials at https://www.instagram.com/ftldiaperbank/ and https://www.facebook.com/ftldiaperbank.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello, friends , family, great universe,
Welcome to the Good NeighborPodcast.
Today we're joined by thefounders of the Greater Fort
Lauderdale Diaper Bank, which isan organization that really is
filling a critical gap that mostpeople don't realize exists.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about how this started,
what it's like to run anonprofit that really meets such
(00:35):
an essential basic need forfamilies, and what's happening
behind the scenes when familiescan't afford diapers.
So I'm here with Brittanyandany and dwayne wolf no
relation to myself.
I think you guys have an e atthe end of the name, right,
right, yeah, you're not.
You're not official wolf, sorry, you're not.
You're not in the part, you'renot in the tribe.
I'm sorry to say um, but Iactually had um worked with you
(00:57):
both in the past a couple oftimes.
We did some feature articles incooper city living to showcase
really the work that you'redoing in the community.
I'd never had a chance toactually physically meet you
until I was at a recent Chamberof Commerce lunch event and I
had the pleasure of meetingBrittany and I said, hey, I got
to get you guys on the podcast.
You guys are doing phenomenalwork in our community and we
need to spread the, spread themessage, spread the word far and
(01:20):
wide.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So welcome to the show guys.
Thank you, Yep.
Thanks Jeremy.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Likewise, it's a pleasure meeting you, meeting
you as well, for sure, yeah, solet's get straight into this.
I'm curious, like, for me, Ihave two kids, soon to be 11 and
just turned 13, the older oneand so we're well out of the
diapers.
But when they were growing upand they needed diapers, this
was something like, thankfully,we're very fortunate and I had
resources available If I neededdiapers.
But when they were growing upand they needed diapers, this
was something like, like,thankfully, we're very fortunate
(01:47):
and I I I had resourcesavailable.
If I needed diapers, I wouldjust go buy them.
But obviously there's a lot offamilies out there that aren't
fortunate enough to have um, youknow resources available for
these things for you both.
What was it that um helped like, got you to realize that there
was such a strong need for thistown here in South Florida, and
how did it even come on yourradar in the first place?
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Yeah, so I'm a social worker and I've been working
with Humana now for 11 years.
But when I first started mycareer I was working with the
Medicaid population and therewas no resources where I can get
my patients diapers and I had afew parents come to me like I'm
not able to find these diapersanywhere, I can't afford them.
(02:32):
And that was 10 years ago.
They were a lot cheaper backthen.
So I started researching and Icame into contact with the
National Diaper Bank Network andrealized that there are diaper
pantries starting to form and wekind of jumped into it.
We started giving one or twodiapers from the garage and at
play dates, because we used tohave a play date group with my
(02:54):
youngest well, my oldestdaughter she's 11 now so play
date groups and stuff like thatand she made some friends and we
gave out some diapers.
And now we give out diapers toalmost 3,000 families per month
through our partnering agenciesand direct distributions.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Wow, that's good stuff yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, it's been really eye-opening to consider
our humble beginnings, humbleorigins and that origin story.
Right, I remember the firstfamily that we decided to serve.
It was just looking to do agood deed right and really
looking to help someone.
And then we realized that thereweren't any government
(03:38):
subsidies available.
Right, there's no governmentfunds allocated for diapers.
Right, there's no, there's nogovernment funds allocated for
for diapers.
So we were just looking to makea difference and again, it's
really rewarding to see how muchit's grown.
And you know, in all the workthat that we've been doing,
(04:07):
we're we're able to have such acast, such a big net through our
direct distributions that wehave monthly.
So we directly distributemonthly at Tyrone Bryant Park in
downtown Fort Lauderdale area,and then we also have our
partnering agencies that weprovide diapers to for
individuals that may not be ableto make it to those
distributions.
So this is hence the net of3,000 plus families that we're
collectively serving every month.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Why do you think it is that this is such a hidden
issue?
Right?
I think most people areprobably like me.
I would think right, they don'treally think about this stuff.
And you, brittany, you foundthis through being a social
worker.
Why do you think this is such ahidden issue for so many folks?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I think because it's diapers it's a little bit taboo
to talk about.
A lot of people just assumethat you get help with diapers
like you get help with formulaor any other basic need like a
food pantry, and you don't.
So a lot of the moms areashamed that we've heard moms
washing out diapers.
They just rinse it off andreuse it because there's not
(05:10):
enough funds for them to getmore diapers.
And a lot of the parents arechoosing between food and
diapers on a hard day and usingt-shirts or anything that they
can find as a diaper instead ofusing clean diapers.
And a lot of regular peopledon't think about that, like I
wouldn't have thought about itunless I was in that social work
(05:30):
space.
It costs 16 cents for a diapernow and that adds up.
Babies go through eight to 10diapers a day.
So it's usually, you know, $100to $150 a month and if you're
on food stamps and you can'tafford that $150 for food and
you have to spend it on diapers,that's really hard.
A lot of the families comingfrom us are on low-income
(05:51):
childcare.
They're on low-income foodassistance.
They get WIC.
We work with all those agenciesthe Early Learning Coalition,
children's Service Council,healthy Mother Healthy Babies.
We're getting a lot of thosefamilies that are coming in
because they are in the povertyline and a lot of zip codes in
Broward County are higher inpoverty, I think 33311 down in.
(06:14):
Fort Lauderdale is the highestpoverty rate right now.
And we're at 33%.
So there is a big gap wherethere's a lot of people in need
in Broward County and we'retrying to just fill that need
and raise awareness.
There is a National Diaper NeedAwareness Week and we're
supposed to be having a galathis year for that.
(06:34):
But we do try to raise as muchawareness as we can so that we
can educate the generalpopulation and have them donate
their leftover diapers or getinvolved in that way, because it
is a big issue, Just like food.
You just don't hear about it asmuch.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, see, I would have thought that this is all
like government assistance takescare of this right.
Like they have food stamps, Ithink they have like diaper
stamps for this.
I'm wondering why that isn'treally a thing.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, and it's, it's, it's.
It's a fair assumption, right,and it's the assumption that a
lot of people make.
So when I go around and I talkto people about diaper need,
right, and I explain to peoplewhat a diaper bank is, who we
are, what, what we do you atfirst it's it's, you know, it's
okay, it's a charity, a lot ofpeople will grasp and understand
(07:26):
it's a charity organization,right.
But I don't think a lot ofthought goes into it Usually
until you tell folks that thereare no government subsidies that
account for this, right.
And then then you kind of startto get the attention, especially
if you have any individualsthat have kids themselves, right
, that may be a part of you know, like that, like my speech, or
that educational moment, right.
And then it's like, wow, youknow, that's not.
(07:48):
You know we're, thankfully, weare able to work and we're in a
better financial situation.
The individuals may think,right, but wow, for someone that
you know isn't working orsomeone that is disabled or you
know their work is constrictedfor whatever reason, that can be
a problem, that's an issue.
Diapers are very expensive.
(08:09):
So you get that attention whena lot of folks realize that
there are no governmentsubsidies.
There is no government budgetthat covers that or helps with
that in any magnitude.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, we also see a lot of it with our adult diaper
population.
They're living on very fixedincome Social Security and those
diapers are even more expensivethan the baby diapers.
They can get a pack of 18 forlike $30.
So it's and they use more perday.
So it's very hard for ourelderly population when they
need diapers.
So we're just trying to fillthat gap diapers.
(08:44):
So we're just trying to fillthat gap.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, and I appreciate the work that you're
doing.
It's really, really fantastic.
So you started doing this about10 years ago.
You said and it was justsomething that kind of
transpired uh, given out a fewdiapers here or there.
How has that evolved to whereyou're at today?
Is this, uh like how much?
How much time are you guysdevoting to this?
What is the?
What is the typical day-to-daylook like at the Greater Fort
Lauderdale Diaper Bank and howcan people look to get involved?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, so it's grown substantially.
We used to do just one monthlypantry at the police station in
Cooper City and we had about 100families that we were serving
per month.
And then we grew and we startedgiving diapers out to
partnering agencies and nowwe're so big that we just moved
into our first warehouse.
(09:31):
We do have the 31 partneringagencies and we partner with the
Broad County Library System aswell as Memorial Healthcare to
get the diapers out to thecommunity and we have one pantry
at each location per month.
Now we're doing two pantries,31 partnering agencies and we
have an adult diaper casemanagement program with our
social workers interns that cango out to the elderly home and
(09:54):
deliver the diapers and do somecase management with them.
So it's pretty good.
A typical day for us is you know, we got to get up early, we got
to get the kids ready, we bothwork full time.
So it's kind of a juggling actwhere we're working and then
diaper banking and then theinterns are working on the back
end and we only have one fulltime staff right now.
So we're working on gettingsome more stuff on board and
(10:17):
getting grants and growing, um,but we do have the interns and
the interns are working fulltime.
They're usually with me onMondays and Wednesdays and then
periodically throughout the weekthey'll check in and what do we
need to do?
And we have a lot of meetingsin the days, a lot of grant
(10:37):
meetings.
A lot of you know what are wedoing logistics, stuff like that
and our phone is always ringingwith people who are in need,
partnering agencies who are inneed.
We do partner pickups on thefirst Wednesday of every month
and then our distribution is onthe first Thursday of every
month from the library and thenit's intermittent Wednesdays
(10:59):
after that at Memorial.
So if anybody's interested inhelping give out diapers or with
any of the logistics, or wehave a big project right now
where we have to sort all thediapers that are in our
warehouse.
So that's coming up in a fewweeks.
And then we're working on ourbirth, baby and beyond health
expo that's going to be inCooper city just to kind of give
everyone a chance to see ourhealthcare providers and get
(11:21):
some diapers.
We're going to be giving outclothes and soap and a whole
bunch of stuff at the expo.
So I think that's going to bereally fun, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So, yeah, so, and just just I kind of wanted to
summarize really quick to toBrittany's point right Ways to
help.
So we accept open packs ofdiapers, unopened packs of
diapers.
You can drop any of that off atany of the Broward County
library locations.
We have a phenomenalpartnership with the Broward
County Library System, so that'sone that's huge right, because
(11:51):
we're able to collect those fromthem, sort and redistribute
into the community.
We accept our monetarydonations at ftldiaperbankorg.
We also are always looking forhands-on help for anyone that
wants to volunteer and givetheir time.
So if you go towwwhandsonbrowerorg and search
(12:14):
for the Greater Fort LauderdaleDiaper Bank, it provides all of
those volunteer opportunities.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Excellent.
We're going to, of course, putlinks in the description for
everyone out there that can getinvolved, but I want to ask you
guys both you've been doing thisa while now.
I'm sure there's been manypeople's.
You've touched many peopledeeply with the work that you're
doing.
Is there a particular storythat comes to mind of a family
that really touched your heartsin a significant way?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I think for me that there's a few of them.
Some of them have passed onfrom our elderly population, but
I did have one.
She passed away recently soshe's kind of on my mind.
But we did home visits with alady who was in Lauderdale Lakes
and she had a lot of issueswith mold in her home and DCF
(13:08):
was involved and some of theceilings were falling down and
she was very scared and didn'twant anyone in her home.
So we had to kind of build thoserelationships with the social
work interns and get everythingtogether for her and really
cater to her needs, build upthat trust, build up the
relationship so we could get herthe clean diapers and, you know
(13:30):
, just making sure she hadeverything she needed.
And she didn't have any friends, no family.
She was kind of alone andisolated in her apartment.
We got her wheels on wheels, wegot her hooked up with services
and we just really made a hugedifference in her life toward
the end of her life.
And she passed away last monthand she left us a letter that
was just really touching.
(13:51):
It said thank you.
You know, you changed my life,you kept me clean and otherwise
she was just, you know, havingfeces on herself and she
couldn't wipe it and it was awhole issue.
So I'm glad that we were able tohelp her, and there's so many
adults like her that areisolated and don't have the
money for diapers and just needthose extra services, so I'm
(14:11):
really glad that we can closethose gaps.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, and then, real quick, there is a story that
comes to mind of a family thatwe served.
We served this family for a fewyears and you know the
relationship started with she,so it's a family of two and her
husband was she's married familyto husband was on disability he
(14:35):
had recently gotten ondisability and he wasn't.
He obviously wasn't working, soshe was the only one going out
to work.
She's working a minimum wagejob and it was very difficult,
right, as we know, living inSouth Florida and really looking
to thrive off of really justone person's salary, and she
wasn't able to afford diapers.
(14:56):
And someone told her about ourorganization and she started
coming before she was reusingdiapers.
She admitted to reusing diapers, at times, unfortunately having
to scrape out fecal matter fromdiapers to reuse or extending
the time.
Her youngest child would weardiapers, right, because she
(15:20):
didn't have that many tosubstitute.
She would actually our firstThursday distributions.
She would oftentimes get a rideto come and pick up and if
there wasn't a ride available,she would have to take two buses
to get to where we were, and Ithought that was just the
saddest thing.
When we first met.
(15:41):
She came and she was a littleadamant about getting the
diapers as quickly as she could,and at first I thought it was
just yeah, hey, maybe she's alittle impatient.
But then I realized shementioned hey, I took multiple
buses to get here and I needtime to walk back to the bus
(16:02):
station to, you know, to makethe schedule, to get back on
time.
So, is there any way?
You know, and it just it, justit touched my heart because,
again it's, you know, we may notthink of these things right,
just because we are, we are notdealing with them, but this is
real life for a lot, a lot offolks.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, and and I I could only imagine this runs so
much deeper than the financialimpact that it has on people.
The story you just told me,that, the psychological toll
that that has to take onsomebody having to deal with
that, it's just got to beincredible.
And the work that you're doing,truly, guys, my hat's off to
you.
The work that you're doing it'sso important and it's so
powerful and I really want tospread this message far and wide
(16:44):
throughout our community.
I know you guys both also livein Cooper City, right?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, we do.
Very cool, and you got how oldare your kids 11 and 3.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Ah yeah, very nice.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Very nice, yeah.
So you guys, clearly you'revery, very busy.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You're out there working full-time jobs.
You got two kids.
You're doing this nonprofit.
Do you have any downtime?
What do you guys like to do forfun when you're not working?
At least one family friendcamping trip once a year,
sometimes more if time permitsit, but that's a big thing that
we like to do and aside fromthat, whenever we get
opportunities to do it and achance to, we travel
(17:34):
periodically.
So we enjoy traveling and justreally, like I said, the
outdoors.
You know we love outdoorsystuff camping.
My three-year-old he's got arecent obsession with fishing so
I've been taking him fishing alot in a lot of the downtime
Well, any downtime that we have.
So we try to make the best ofit and do things as a family
when we do get some of thatdowntime.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
So do you guys go camping or do you go glamping?
This is a big distinction there.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Oh no, we go camping.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Hardcore camping.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Hardcore camping yeah , we did glamping for the first
time at this resort and was likewe're so confused, like what is
this?
It was weird, this is not real.
Yeah, this isn't a real thing.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
It was fun though.
So we do a lot of stuff.
We're always around town, soyou probably see us around town.
You might see us on a canalwith my child's fish.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So, yeah, what would be one thing?
You'd like to leave ourlisteners with One message you'd
like to give them about thework that you're doing?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
It's needed.
It helps so many people, andjust even one small act of
kindness goes a long way.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yeah, and if I can add to that too, too, if you
know, I always encourage people,right short of donating
monetary funds to anorganization, donate your time,
identify whether it's this causeor another cause, identify a
cause that resonates with youand donate your time because
it's.
It's an indescribable feelingto be a part of something that
(19:02):
has such a big impact.
So that's what I try to empowerpeople to do.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
All right.
So one more time for ourlisteners, in case they missed
it earlier.
How can people learn more?
How can we get involved?
Maybe share the website, thecontact information, the best
way to get connected.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yeah, so our website is wwwftldiaperbankorg and
anyone can email us informationat ftldiaperbankorg.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Perfect, all right, we will.
Like I said earlier, we'll dropa link in the description to
all of the contact information.
So if you're listening outthere, you could lend a hand,
you can get involved.
Guys doing fantastic work inand around the community.
We really appreciate everythingof the contact information.
So if you're listening outthere, you could lend a hand,
you can get involved, guys doingfantastic work in and around
the community.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
We really appreciate everything that you're doing so.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, of course, and toour listeners, thanks for tuning
in, and we'll catch you allnext time on the next episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Everyone, take care and have a have a great day.
231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello, friends , family, great universe,
Welcome to the Good NeighborPodcast.
Today we're joined by thefounders of the Greater Fort
Lauderdale Diaper Bank, which isan organization that really is
filling a critical gap that mostpeople don't realize exists.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about how this started,
what it's like to run anonprofit that really meets such
(00:35):
an essential basic need forfamilies, and what's happening
behind the scenes when familiescan't afford diapers.
So I'm here with Brittanyandany and dwayne wolf no
relation to myself.
I think you guys have an e atthe end of the name, right,
right, yeah, you're not.
You're not official wolf, sorry, you're not.
You're not in the part, you'renot in the tribe.
I'm sorry to say um, but Iactually had um worked with you
(00:57):
both in the past a couple oftimes.
We did some feature articles incooper city living to showcase
really the work that you'redoing in the community.
I'd never had a chance toactually physically meet you
until I was at a recent Chamberof Commerce lunch event and I
had the pleasure of meetingBrittany and I said, hey, I got
to get you guys on the podcast.
You guys are doing phenomenalwork in our community and we
need to spread the, spread themessage, spread the word far and
(01:20):
wide.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So welcome to the show guys.
Thank you, Yep.
Thanks Jeremy.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Likewise, it's a pleasure meeting you, meeting
you as well, for sure, yeah, solet's get straight into this.
I'm curious, like, for me, Ihave two kids, soon to be 11 and
just turned 13, the older oneand so we're well out of the
diapers.
But when they were growing upand they needed diapers, this
was something like, thankfully,we're very fortunate and I had
resources available If I neededdiapers.
But when they were growing upand they needed diapers, this
was something like, like,thankfully, we're very fortunate
(01:47):
and I I I had resourcesavailable.
If I needed diapers, I wouldjust go buy them.
But obviously there's a lot offamilies out there that aren't
fortunate enough to have um, youknow resources available for
these things for you both.
What was it that um helped like, got you to realize that there
was such a strong need for thistown here in South Florida, and
how did it even come on yourradar in the first place?
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Yeah, so I'm a social worker and I've been working
with Humana now for 11 years.
But when I first started mycareer I was working with the
Medicaid population and therewas no resources where I can get
my patients diapers and I had afew parents come to me like I'm
not able to find these diapersanywhere, I can't afford them.
(02:32):
And that was 10 years ago.
They were a lot cheaper backthen.
So I started researching and Icame into contact with the
National Diaper Bank Network andrealized that there are diaper
pantries starting to form and wekind of jumped into it.
We started giving one or twodiapers from the garage and at
play dates, because we used tohave a play date group with my
(02:54):
youngest well, my oldestdaughter she's 11 now so play
date groups and stuff like thatand she made some friends and we
gave out some diapers.
And now we give out diapers toalmost 3,000 families per month
through our partnering agenciesand direct distributions.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Wow, that's good stuff yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, it's been really eye-opening to consider
our humble beginnings, humbleorigins and that origin story.
Right, I remember the firstfamily that we decided to serve.
It was just looking to do agood deed right and really
looking to help someone.
And then we realized that thereweren't any government
(03:38):
subsidies available.
Right, there's no governmentfunds allocated for diapers.
Right, there's no, there's nogovernment funds allocated for
for diapers.
So we were just looking to makea difference and again, it's
really rewarding to see how muchit's grown.
And you know, in all the workthat that we've been doing,
(04:07):
we're we're able to have such acast, such a big net through our
direct distributions that wehave monthly.
So we directly distributemonthly at Tyrone Bryant Park in
downtown Fort Lauderdale area,and then we also have our
partnering agencies that weprovide diapers to for
individuals that may not be ableto make it to those
distributions.
So this is hence the net of3,000 plus families that we're
collectively serving every month.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Why do you think it is that this is such a hidden
issue?
Right?
I think most people areprobably like me.
I would think right, they don'treally think about this stuff.
And you, brittany, you foundthis through being a social
worker.
Why do you think this is such ahidden issue for so many folks?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I think because it's diapers it's a little bit taboo
to talk about.
A lot of people just assumethat you get help with diapers
like you get help with formulaor any other basic need like a
food pantry, and you don't.
So a lot of the moms areashamed that we've heard moms
washing out diapers.
They just rinse it off andreuse it because there's not
(05:10):
enough funds for them to getmore diapers.
And a lot of the parents arechoosing between food and
diapers on a hard day and usingt-shirts or anything that they
can find as a diaper instead ofusing clean diapers.
And a lot of regular peopledon't think about that, like I
wouldn't have thought about itunless I was in that social work
(05:30):
space.
It costs 16 cents for a diapernow and that adds up.
Babies go through eight to 10diapers a day.
So it's usually, you know, $100to $150 a month and if you're
on food stamps and you can'tafford that $150 for food and
you have to spend it on diapers,that's really hard.
A lot of the families comingfrom us are on low-income
(05:51):
childcare.
They're on low-income foodassistance.
They get WIC.
We work with all those agenciesthe Early Learning Coalition,
children's Service Council,healthy Mother Healthy Babies.
We're getting a lot of thosefamilies that are coming in
because they are in the povertyline and a lot of zip codes in
Broward County are higher inpoverty, I think 33311 down in.
(06:14):
Fort Lauderdale is the highestpoverty rate right now.
And we're at 33%.
So there is a big gap wherethere's a lot of people in need
in Broward County and we'retrying to just fill that need
and raise awareness.
There is a National Diaper NeedAwareness Week and we're
supposed to be having a galathis year for that.
(06:34):
But we do try to raise as muchawareness as we can so that we
can educate the generalpopulation and have them donate
their leftover diapers or getinvolved in that way, because it
is a big issue, Just like food.
You just don't hear about it asmuch.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, see, I would have thought that this is all
like government assistance takescare of this right.
Like they have food stamps, Ithink they have like diaper
stamps for this.
I'm wondering why that isn'treally a thing.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, and it's, it's, it's.
It's a fair assumption, right,and it's the assumption that a
lot of people make.
So when I go around and I talkto people about diaper need,
right, and I explain to peoplewhat a diaper bank is, who we
are, what, what we do you atfirst it's it's, you know, it's
okay, it's a charity, a lot ofpeople will grasp and understand
(07:26):
it's a charity organization,right.
But I don't think a lot ofthought goes into it Usually
until you tell folks that thereare no government subsidies that
account for this, right.
And then then you kind of startto get the attention, especially
if you have any individualsthat have kids themselves, right
, that may be a part of you know, like that, like my speech, or
that educational moment, right.
And then it's like, wow, youknow, that's not.
(07:48):
You know we're, thankfully, weare able to work and we're in a
better financial situation.
The individuals may think,right, but wow, for someone that
you know isn't working orsomeone that is disabled or you
know their work is constrictedfor whatever reason, that can be
a problem, that's an issue.
Diapers are very expensive.
(08:09):
So you get that attention whena lot of folks realize that
there are no governmentsubsidies.
There is no government budgetthat covers that or helps with
that in any magnitude.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, we also see a lot of it with our adult diaper
population.
They're living on very fixedincome Social Security and those
diapers are even more expensivethan the baby diapers.
They can get a pack of 18 forlike $30.
So it's and they use more perday.
So it's very hard for ourelderly population when they
need diapers.
So we're just trying to fillthat gap diapers.
(08:44):
So we're just trying to fillthat gap.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, and I appreciate the work that you're
doing.
It's really, really fantastic.
So you started doing this about10 years ago.
You said and it was justsomething that kind of
transpired uh, given out a fewdiapers here or there.
How has that evolved to whereyou're at today?
Is this, uh like how much?
How much time are you guysdevoting to this?
What is the?
What is the typical day-to-daylook like at the Greater Fort
Lauderdale Diaper Bank and howcan people look to get involved?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah, so it's grown substantially.
We used to do just one monthlypantry at the police station in
Cooper City and we had about 100families that we were serving
per month.
And then we grew and we startedgiving diapers out to
partnering agencies and nowwe're so big that we just moved
into our first warehouse.
(09:31):
We do have the 31 partneringagencies and we partner with the
Broad County Library System aswell as Memorial Healthcare to
get the diapers out to thecommunity and we have one pantry
at each location per month.
Now we're doing two pantries,31 partnering agencies and we
have an adult diaper casemanagement program with our
social workers interns that cango out to the elderly home and
(09:54):
deliver the diapers and do somecase management with them.
So it's pretty good.
A typical day for us is you know, we got to get up early, we got
to get the kids ready, we bothwork full time.
So it's kind of a juggling actwhere we're working and then
diaper banking and then theinterns are working on the back
end and we only have one fulltime staff right now.
So we're working on gettingsome more stuff on board and
(10:17):
getting grants and growing, um,but we do have the interns and
the interns are working fulltime.
They're usually with me onMondays and Wednesdays and then
periodically throughout the weekthey'll check in and what do we
need to do?
And we have a lot of meetingsin the days, a lot of grant
(10:37):
meetings.
A lot of you know what are wedoing logistics, stuff like that
and our phone is always ringingwith people who are in need,
partnering agencies who are inneed.
We do partner pickups on thefirst Wednesday of every month
and then our distribution is onthe first Thursday of every
month from the library and thenit's intermittent Wednesdays
(10:59):
after that at Memorial.
So if anybody's interested inhelping give out diapers or with
any of the logistics, or wehave a big project right now
where we have to sort all thediapers that are in our
warehouse.
So that's coming up in a fewweeks.
And then we're working on ourbirth, baby and beyond health
expo that's going to be inCooper city just to kind of give
everyone a chance to see ourhealthcare providers and get
(11:21):
some diapers.
We're going to be giving outclothes and soap and a whole
bunch of stuff at the expo.
So I think that's going to bereally fun, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So, yeah, so, and just just I kind of wanted to
summarize really quick to toBrittany's point right Ways to
help.
So we accept open packs ofdiapers, unopened packs of
diapers.
You can drop any of that off atany of the Broward County
library locations.
We have a phenomenalpartnership with the Broward
County Library System, so that'sone that's huge right, because
(11:51):
we're able to collect those fromthem, sort and redistribute
into the community.
We accept our monetarydonations at ftldiaperbankorg.
We also are always looking forhands-on help for anyone that
wants to volunteer and givetheir time.
So if you go towwwhandsonbrowerorg and search
(12:14):
for the Greater Fort LauderdaleDiaper Bank, it provides all of
those volunteer opportunities.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Excellent.
We're going to, of course, putlinks in the description for
everyone out there that can getinvolved, but I want to ask you
guys both you've been doing thisa while now.
I'm sure there's been manypeople's.
You've touched many peopledeeply with the work that you're
doing.
Is there a particular storythat comes to mind of a family
that really touched your heartsin a significant way?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I think for me that there's a few of them.
Some of them have passed onfrom our elderly population, but
I did have one.
She passed away recently soshe's kind of on my mind.
But we did home visits with alady who was in Lauderdale Lakes
and she had a lot of issueswith mold in her home and DCF
(13:08):
was involved and some of theceilings were falling down and
she was very scared and didn'twant anyone in her home.
So we had to kind of build thoserelationships with the social
work interns and get everythingtogether for her and really
cater to her needs, build upthat trust, build up the
relationship so we could get herthe clean diapers and, you know
(13:30):
, just making sure she hadeverything she needed.
And she didn't have any friends, no family.
She was kind of alone andisolated in her apartment.
We got her wheels on wheels, wegot her hooked up with services
and we just really made a hugedifference in her life toward
the end of her life.
And she passed away last monthand she left us a letter that
was just really touching.
(13:51):
It said thank you.
You know, you changed my life,you kept me clean and otherwise
she was just, you know, havingfeces on herself and she
couldn't wipe it and it was awhole issue.
So I'm glad that we were able tohelp her, and there's so many
adults like her that areisolated and don't have the
money for diapers and just needthose extra services, so I'm
(14:11):
really glad that we can closethose gaps.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, and then, real quick, there is a story that
comes to mind of a family thatwe served.
We served this family for a fewyears and you know the
relationship started with she,so it's a family of two and her
husband was she's married familyto husband was on disability he
(14:35):
had recently gotten ondisability and he wasn't.
He obviously wasn't working, soshe was the only one going out
to work.
She's working a minimum wagejob and it was very difficult,
right, as we know, living inSouth Florida and really looking
to thrive off of really justone person's salary, and she
wasn't able to afford diapers.
(14:56):
And someone told her about ourorganization and she started
coming before she was reusingdiapers.
She admitted to reusing diapers, at times, unfortunately having
to scrape out fecal matter fromdiapers to reuse or extending
the time.
Her youngest child would weardiapers, right, because she
(15:20):
didn't have that many tosubstitute.
She would actually our firstThursday distributions.
She would oftentimes get a rideto come and pick up and if
there wasn't a ride available,she would have to take two buses
to get to where we were, and Ithought that was just the
saddest thing.
When we first met.
(15:41):
She came and she was a littleadamant about getting the
diapers as quickly as she could,and at first I thought it was
just yeah, hey, maybe she's alittle impatient.
But then I realized shementioned hey, I took multiple
buses to get here and I needtime to walk back to the bus
(16:02):
station to, you know, to makethe schedule, to get back on
time.
So, is there any way?
You know, and it just it, justit touched my heart because,
again it's, you know, we may notthink of these things right,
just because we are, we are notdealing with them, but this is
real life for a lot, a lot offolks.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, and and I I could only imagine this runs so
much deeper than the financialimpact that it has on people.
The story you just told me,that, the psychological toll
that that has to take onsomebody having to deal with
that, it's just got to beincredible.
And the work that you're doing,truly, guys, my hat's off to
you.
The work that you're doing it'sso important and it's so
powerful and I really want tospread this message far and wide
(16:44):
throughout our community.
I know you guys both also livein Cooper City, right?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, we do.
Very cool, and you got how oldare your kids 11 and 3.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Ah yeah, very nice.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Very nice, yeah.
So you guys, clearly you'revery, very busy.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You're out there working full-time jobs.
You got two kids.
You're doing this nonprofit.
Do you have any downtime?
What do you guys like to do forfun when you're not working?
At least one family friendcamping trip once a year,
sometimes more if time permitsit, but that's a big thing that
we like to do and aside fromthat, whenever we get
opportunities to do it and achance to, we travel
(17:34):
periodically.
So we enjoy traveling and justreally, like I said, the
outdoors.
You know we love outdoorsystuff camping.
My three-year-old he's got arecent obsession with fishing so
I've been taking him fishing alot in a lot of the downtime
Well, any downtime that we have.
So we try to make the best ofit and do things as a family
when we do get some of thatdowntime.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
So do you guys go camping or do you go glamping?
This is a big distinction there.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Oh no, we go camping.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Hardcore camping.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Hardcore camping yeah , we did glamping for the first
time at this resort and was likewe're so confused, like what is
this?
It was weird, this is not real.
Yeah, this isn't a real thing.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
It was fun though.
So we do a lot of stuff.
We're always around town, soyou probably see us around town.
You might see us on a canalwith my child's fish.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So, yeah, what would be one thing?
You'd like to leave ourlisteners with One message you'd
like to give them about thework that you're doing?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
It's needed.
It helps so many people, andjust even one small act of
kindness goes a long way.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yeah, and if I can add to that too, too, if you
know, I always encourage people,right short of donating
monetary funds to anorganization, donate your time,
identify whether it's this causeor another cause, identify a
cause that resonates with youand donate your time because
it's.
It's an indescribable feelingto be a part of something that
(19:02):
has such a big impact.
So that's what I try to empowerpeople to do.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
All right.
So one more time for ourlisteners, in case they missed
it earlier.
How can people learn more?
How can we get involved?
Maybe share the website, thecontact information, the best
way to get connected.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yeah, so our website is wwwftldiaperbankorg and
anyone can email us informationat ftldiaperbankorg.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Perfect, all right, we will.
Like I said earlier, we'll dropa link in the description to
all of the contact information.
So if you're listening outthere, you could lend a hand,
you can get involved.
Guys doing fantastic work inand around the community.
We really appreciate everythingof the contact information.
So if you're listening outthere, you could lend a hand,
you can get involved, guys doingfantastic work in and around
the community.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
We really appreciate everything that you're doing so.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, of course, and toour listeners, thanks for tuning
in, and we'll catch you allnext time on the next episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Everyone, take care and have a have a great day.
231-3170.
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