Clinch County had been without electricity and water for several days after Hurricane Helene tore through the state when a large van rolled up at the local hospital with a stockpile of diapers on board.
The haul of baby supplies was in response to a call for help that Angela Handley, CEO of Clinch Memorial Hospital, put out on social media when it seemed to her that the rest of Georgia was unaware of how badly her community was struggling.
The plea for help had worked, triggering a groundswell of support and aid for a community just east of hard-hit Valdosta that Handley said had a long history of near-misses with storms and expected the same from Helene.
“No one expected the hurricane to hit us,” Handley said. “So, I think everyone was just ill-prepared.”
One of the groups that stepped in was Helping Mamas, which is a Norcross-based nonprofit that serves as the state’s only baby supply bank and largest diaper bank. Living up to its name, Helping Mamas also dropped off period products to the storm-ravaged community.
Handley said the supplies were a godsend for a community where some residents were already struggling before Helene. The period products were in such demand that the hospital rationed them out so everyone could have at least a seven-day supply.
The devastation of the hurricane led to the hospital, which is a 25-bed facility, creating a permanent pantry for the community that includes food, diapers, period products and pet food.
“People don’t realize when you’re on a tight budget, there is hardly any room for error,” Handley said. “And then when you have a hurricane hit and the money you set aside for diapers and formula is now being spent on bottled water, going to get food or replacing food because your freezer and refrigerator did not have power for days, that can be a huge economic hit to those already living at the poverty level.”
Helping Mamas’ founder and CEO Jamie Lackey said the nonprofit delivered more than 254,000 diapers, about 61,000 period products and more than 800 hygiene kits to residents in nine counties in the wake of Helene.
“I think what the disaster did was really highlight this underlying problem that was already there. It was already a massive problem, and this just blew it up on such a larger scale, especially in these more rural areas,” Lackey said.
Lackey said many families, including middle-class households, were already struggling each day to access diapers and other essential items for their little ones.
That’s why she said she started the nonprofit about a decade ago after seeing a gap in services, with no one else spearheading a coordinated effort to collect diapers, car seats, cribs and other baby items for families all across Georgia.
A mother of two and a social worker, Lackey said she started gathering diapers and other infant supplies in the garage of her Snellville home. Now, the nonprofit runs a 9,000-square-foot warehouse in Norcross.
And Lackey said the need has only grown over time.
Some parents have resorted to desperate options, using grocery bags or towels as makeshift diapers or trying to clean out and reuse disposable diapers. But others are left with difficult choices.
“They’ll choose diapers over food for their families, because they have to have the diapers so they can get child care to go to work,” Lackey said. “The things they’re giving up is unbelievable.
“And a lot of the families experience extreme isolation because they can’t go anywhere if they don’t have diapers for their children. And they’re having to stay at home, and they’re giving up family time, quality time, things outside of the home because they don’t have access to diapers, or they’re putting everything they have financially into diapers, and they can’t afford to go do anything else,” she said.
Lackey said she has seen the price of diapers nearly double since the pandemic, with the cost of diapers costing about $50 per box – and that is usually not enough to last an entire month.
“What we knew pre-pandemic is what we call the diaper gap was about 50 diapers a month. So what families were experiencing a shortage of was about 50 diapers per month. I think it’s much higher than that now, and we don’t have the research for that just quite yet,” she said.
Helping Mamas is also part of the Georgia Diaper Bank Coalition, which includes three other diaper banks. That coalition is advocating for public funding to keep diaper banks stocked and ready to help and for the elimination of the sales tax on diapers.
“Is it going to be a massive reduction in their budget? Nope. But are they going to buy more diapers with it gone? Absolutely,” Lackey said of the sales tax. “To us, it’s more of just an acknowledgement that these diapers are essential and should not be taxed.”
Parents who are struggling to buy diapers are missing on average five days of work a month, which is about $300 of income for someone earning minimum wage, she said.
“This is an economic issue. It is a jobs issue for our state,” Lackey said.
Helping Mamas’ greatest need right now is size 6 diapers. Drop-off locations in metro Atlanta can be found on the group’s website, which also includes other ways to support them.
Clinch Memorial Hospital is accepting gift cards that they can use to buy items for the pantry or to give to families to purchase protein.
