Babies Need Bottoms 2025
Impact Report

Families across Western North Carolina faced another year of profound challenges in 2025. Economic pressures, cuts to social programs, and the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene continued to strain the systems meant to support our region’s most vulnerable caregivers.

Amid these realities, Babies Need Bottoms remained a steady and trusted partner. Our team, our model, and our community of supporters worked together to fill critical gaps in the social safety net—ensuring that families had access to the essential supplies they needed to keep their babies clean, dry, and healthy.

This report reflects a year of resilience, collaboration, and meaningful impact. It shows the power of people supporting people, especially in moments of uncertainty. Your involvement can help ensure even more families have what they need to thrive.

A Letter from our Co-Directors

To understand the realities families faced in 2025, it’s essential to recognize the lasting effects Hurricane Helene left across Western North Carolina in late 2024. As families struggled with the loss of homes, jobs, and stability, Babies Need Bottoms remained a trusted resource helping caregivers meet their babies’ most essential needs.

Our staff and volunteers weren’t just responders, we were survivors. We lived through the storm’s devastation and the uncertainty that followed. And yet, in the days after, we came together — exhausted, yet determined — to make sure babies, children and families have the support they need.

Hurricane Helene did not create diaper need. Nearly 1 in 2 families across the country, including here in WNC, already struggled to afford diapers long before the storm. And beyond Helene’s impact, families continue to feel the strain of rising costs and an uncertain economy.

• According to the Urban Institute and the National Diaper Bank Network, the average monthly cost of diapers for one child is about $100, but the average American family can only afford to pay $65.

• Closing that gap would require nearly 4.8 billion additional diapers each year.

In 2025, Babies Need Bottoms reached a major milestone: distributing our 2.5 millionth diaper. This achievement reflects both the scale of community need and the strength of the support that makes our work possible.

Together with our 80+ community partners, we stand ready to continue serving our neighbors across 18 WNC Counties, through these challenges.

We are so grateful for the support that poured into our region from across the country following the storm. Alongside the steadfast commitment of our long‑time donors and volunteers, you helped us meet the moment after Helene and continue to guide our growth into 2026 and beyond. Your generosity has strengthened our entire community, and we are profoundly thankful.

With gratitude,

Alicia and Meagan, Co-Executive Directors

Financial Report

Our financial position in 2025 remained strong, guided by careful stewardship and a commitment to directing resources where they make the greatest impact for families.

Diaper Distributions Year-to-Year

The steep growth in our annual diaper distribution makes one thing unmistakably clear: diaper need is accelerating, not slowing.

Impact By The Numbers

2025: From Hurricane Recovery to Policy Shifts — Meeting the Moment Together

Throughout 2025, Babies Need Bottoms remained a steady and reliable source of support for our partners and the families they serve.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, pop‑up distribution sites opened across the region to help families meet urgent needs for food, clothing, and other essentials—including diapers, wipes, infant formula and baby supplies. Within months, most of those temporary sites closed, even as families were still working to regain stability.

As those resources disappeared, demand for our support grew. New partners began turning to us for diapers, wipes, formula, and baby care items, and existing partners saw rising demand from the families they serve.

Thanks to donor support, Babies Need Bottoms rapidly expanded—doubling warehouse space and staffing—to take on new partners and meet the increasing demand.

As one partner shared in April:

“I am working with a new mom who is due in this month. Their entire house washed down the bank. The baby supplies she received from you all have made a huge impact on their family and relieved this poor new momma’s mind some.”

Even as we worked at the grassroots level to bolster families, broader policy and economic shifts created additional strain. Cuts to federal and state programs that support children and caregivers, combined with pauses in assistance during the government shutdown, left many families with fewer resources to rely on.

In July, with little warning, the state abruptly ended the Healthy Opportunities Pilot program in North Carolina—a program that had helped families meet essential needs like food, housing stability, and transportation. In the fall, families faced increased anxiety as the federal government shutdown disrupted essential services, including a pause on SNAP benefits and threats to WIC programs.

During this time, another distribution partner shared:

“We continue to see a rise in a variety of needs, especially with HOP ending and benefits such as food stamps being cut or decreased for many of our families. We have had many families struggling to make ends meet and providing them with diapers has not only improved the health outcome of the child but for many parents it has provided a light for these families too.”

What Families Needed Most in 2025

Over the past year, it became increasingly clear that infant formula has emerged as one of the most urgent needs for families in Western North Carolina. As soon as partners learned we had formula available following Helene, Babies Need Bottoms became a lifeline. We received call after call from caseworkers, nurses, and shelter staff—each one trying to help a caregiver who couldn’t find or afford the specific formula their baby required. When no one else could help, they turned to us.

Prolonged disruptions to federal and state programs only intensified this need. When benefit distribution or agency operations are paused, families are left wondering: Will I be able to feed my baby next week? Even when shutdowns end, too many caregivers still struggle to secure the right formula at the right time.

We also saw a significant rise in requests for preemie diapers, size 7–8 diapers and 5T-6T pull-ups. These trends tell us two things:

• more babies born prematurely are in need of support, and

• more children are delaying potty training or experiencing regressions.

Research shows that children who experience a major life change or trauma often experience setbacks in potty training. And pregnant women who experience a trauma are more likely to give birth prematurely.  Given the scale of disruption families endured after Helene, we expect these increased needs to continue as our region moves through a long recovery.

Partners also reported a growing need for diaper rash cream, baby wash, and other hygiene supplies—items essential to keeping children clean, dry, and healthy.

How We Responded: Expanding to Meet Rising Needs

To meet the rising needs of families in 2025, Babies Need Bottoms expanded our services by adopting a Diaper Bank+ model—broadening our support beyond diapers. This approach includes:

• Expanding staffing and volunteer programs to strengthen our capacity and ensure we can meet growing demand across the region.

• Ensuring consistent access to core hygiene items such as baby wash, wipes, and other essentials that keep children clean, dry, and healthy.

• Piloting Care Kits that provide targeted support for breastfeeding parents and families navigating potty training.

• Establishing a Formula Fund so no baby goes hungry and caregivers can access the specific formula their child requires.

• Raising dedicated funds for pull‑ups and potty‑training supplies to ensure children have age‑ and developmentally appropriate support.

Moving Forward: Sustainable Growth Rooted in Our Core Mission

In 2026, we will continue building a stronger Diaper Bank+ model to meet families’ evolving needs. Your support is essential. Every contribution helps provide critical items like formula and wipes, allowing us to serve more families with dignity and care.

As we look to the year ahead, we remain committed to meeting families’ needs with dignity and care—and we’re grateful to have you by our side.

Learn More About Our Impact and Get Involved

Learn more, and keep up to date:

• Donate today to support our mission

• Become a volunteer and join us in the warehouse!

• Follow us on Instagram or Facebook

Check out our Impact Report Highlights from previous years to see how we’ve responded to the rising needs of Western NC communities:

• • 2024

  • 2023