Diaper Need in Asheville & Across the US

Diaper Need, also known as the Diaper Gap, is a real and serious problem across the United States and in the Greater Asheville area of North Carolina.

Too many families in our area have difficulty affording diapers and other basic human needs for their families. Those families are faced with the choice of sacrificing clean diapers & wipes for other basic household expenses, like food and day care expenses. At a monthly cost of $80/child, a typical family with two children will spend $160 just on diapers and no federal assistance is allotted for diaper costs. Under a $3.80/day per person SNAP benefit, tough choices are being made and even families above the poverty level are affected. Children are physically suffering because of prolonged exposure to wet, dirty diapers or the lack of soft, clean wipes. Parents are mentally struggling, living with the stress and shame of not being able to provide basic needs for their children. Some parents aren’t able to work to provide for their children because day care centers require diapers and the parents can’t afford to provide them, which creates a cycle that is difficult to break.

We’ve compiled some statistics (in the attached PDF) for our community partners and donors. We hope these statistics are useful in understanding the diaper need we are trying to eliminate through our community programs. Thanks for being a part of a cause we believe in so much.

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