SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — CNY Diaper Bank is accepting disposable and reusable diaper donations.
Whether you have access to cloth or disposable diapers, many children in Syracuse are in need.
According to the CNY Diaper Bank website, 50 percent of children in Syracuse that are under the age of five, live in poverty.
Furthermore, one out of every four children live in extreme poverty.
Petty Liuzzi, Board Chair of CNY Diaper Bank said, “Diaper need is absolutely a big issue here in CNY and particularly because the city of Syracuse has such a high poverty rate and all of that was compounded by the fact that we had a massive unemployment during the pandemic.”
According the CNY Diaper Bank website, an adequate supply of diapers can cost one-hundred dollars each month and are not covered by the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) or Women Infants and Children (WIC) benefits.
“Diaper need is a very strong issue for anybody that has infants and toddlers and a limited budget,” Liuzzi said.
Liuzzi works alongside several other volunteers who help donate and package FREE diapers for women and families in need of support.
Since the government does not provide a program for low-income families to access FREE diapers, volunteers from CNY Diaper Bank rely heavily on the public for support.
“It’s really up to individuals to buy those diapers,” Liuzzi said. “And they are expensive, any parent can tell you that and they’re even more expensive when you may be buying them from corner stores, buying them in small amounts…you’re not getting the bulk pricing.”
Aria Pendergrass, a mother in Canastota, NY has a two-year-old son named Elijah, who is potty training.
“When he was a newborn, he went through about eight to ten diapers a day,” Pendergrass said. “That’s what the hospital said was pretty normal.”
According to Pendergrass, despite the fact that she is teaching her son how to transition from diapers to using the toilet, the cost of diapers is only increasing for her and her fiancé.
“They actually get more expensive,” Pendergrass said. “The bigger that he gets, the quantity is less…So, say he’s a size four in diapers, they’re more expensive and you get less because the diapers are bigger.”
Pendergrass encourages single mothers especially, to seek help with getting diapers and other basic needs to raise their children.
“Don’t be afraid to reach out because there are resources,” Pendergrass said. “And, you can successfully raise a kid by yourself and do it properly.”
Liuzzi said the inability to provide a child(ren) with diapers vital to their growth and development, directly impacts the relationships between parents and their children.
“It’s very difficult for families and causes a lot of stress,” Liuzzi said. “Unhappily, it also has an impact on children and it has an impact on their health, their well-being…Children are more fussy, they’re more cranky when their diapers aren’t changed frequently.”
Liuzzi also encourages mothers in need of FREE diapers to consider using cloth diapers, which can be washed, re-used and are healthier for the environment.
“Purchasing diapers is really a cash flow issue,” Liuzzi said. “My daughter, when her son was young, she bought diapers…She had a subscription on one of the big retailers and she bought hundreds of diapers at a time and she got very good pricing…But, for a family that may not have transportation or they don’t have the cash flow to put out to buy diapers in bulk, if they’re buying them at a corner store or a small store in the inner-city, the price of diapers could more than double for them.”
