Birth Control more expensive for Low-Income families

Our friends at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologistsrecently published a study that found that prescription contraceptives are more expensive in low-income zipcodes than in wealthier areas. Cost is a leading barrier to access to birth control and contributes to unintended pregnancy rates.

Low income families are also challenged by the cost of diapers and food deserts. Diapers cost an average of $75 to $100 a month, not to mention all the other expenses for a child! Limited or no access to fresh fruits and vegetables adds to the fact that basic health needs are not met. All of these issues compound the challenges that low-income families have to fight against.

Now we see from this study that yet another significant hurdle exists for homeless and low-income mothers: inequality of access to birth control.

Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, vice chair of clinical research at Washington University in St. Louis Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, responds in the Huffington Post:

“The big question is why don’t we, in the U.S., level the playing field so all women can have equal access to no-cost contraception? Why should we have any inequalities at all?”

How is it that lower-income families may have to pay more for birth control? Have you ever been in a position to need help accessing birth control?

Lucy’s Loves Kids

Our thanks to Lucy’s Cookies, maker of gluten-free and allergen-free cookies and treats, for supporting Help a Mother Out!

 

Lucy’s is a company that makes cookies and brownie cakes that are allergen-free. Dr. Lucy Gibney experienced the terror of how dangerous food allergies can be when her newborn son had an anaphylactic reaction to formula. Luckily, Gibney and her husband are both doctors, so her son made it through, but that’s when they found out that he was allergic to many, many different foods.

So Gibney made it her mission to develop a snack that her little boy could eat. I mean, how sad would it be for him to grow up without ever being able to eat a cookie? Eventually she came up with a recipe that was not only loved by her son, but by everyone else she knew, and so she started Lucy’s, a line of cookies and treats made especially for people with food allergies. (But they’re tasty enough that people who don’t have allergies buy and eat them, too!)

 

The company is even building a highly specialized commercial bakery that is completely free all tree nuts, peanuts, dairy, etc. to further reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Now that’s dedication.

Gibney herself says “Mothers and Fathers make the world work by bring up the next generation.  I’m always eager to help make that better for someone who could use a little support.  We all need help at one time or another in life.  I like to always payback and pay forward!”

Lucy’s mission is to help children. Our mission is to help children. That is why we are so proud that Lucy’s is a major supporter of our  3rd Annual Let Good Grow Benefit Tea this Saturday. Attendees will be getting a little sweet treat from Lucy’s so they can discover just how tasty – and allergen-free – life can be.

Thanks, Lucy’s!

Mother’s Day is May 12th. Help a Mother Out!

In 2009 we decided to give up asking for flowers or brunch for a less commercially charged day. We wanted to find a simple way to give back and help struggling moms (and dads) care for the bare necessities. There is no public assistance for diapers and often they are an unmet need.

Honor the special moms in your life by making a contribution in their honor. You can make a difference for new moms and their little ones!

Learn more about why diapers are a small thing with a huge impact.

Mother’s Day is May 12, and when you make a gift, we will send the mom you love a swell card by email or snail mail. Simply tell us who and where to send the card to when you fill out your .

Help Support EarthBaby on April 25!

On April 25th EarthBaby and Fresh Baby Bites are teaming up to Bring Baby Full Circle! 

The event is free and kid-friendly. There will be free food, diaper samples, a sing along session with JAMaROO, a baby food cooking class with Fresh Baby Bites, Bumblebee ceramic handprints, EarthBaby starter kit sale, and awesome raffle prizes! 

The event is on Thursday April 25th from 10:00am – 1:30pm at Recess in San Francisco.

If you are planning on attending please RSVP here.

For those who don’t know, Fresh Baby Bites is a Bay Area company that delivers fresh, local, organic, baby food right to your baby’s high chair. EarthBaby the compostable diaper service delivers diapers and wipes right to your doorstep. Soiled diapers are collected weekly, professionally composted, and turned into nutrient-rich topsoil in just 14 weeks.

Fresh Baby Bites takes care of what baby eats and EarthBaby handles, well… the other end of things. They believe raising a healthy little one and preserving our environment go hand in hand. Together they make it easier for parents like you. How’s that for bringing baby full circle?

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Thank You For Helping Us Show the Power of Parents!

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This just in:  Help a Mother Out is featured in the March 2013 issue of Parents Magazine! A big thank to all of you for making it possible for us to keep helping babies, and applause to Parents for sharing our mission with their readers, and for their support!

Help a Mother Out Selected as NDBN Affiliate Partner

We are delighted to announce that Help a Mother Out has been selected to become a NDBN Affiliate Partner for the San Francisco Bay Area. The following is NDBN’s press release. Thank you to each and everyone who has helped support this work.

The National Diaper Bank Network is pleased to announce the NDBN Affiliate Partnership Program.  The NDBN Affiliate Partnership Program is designed to create a robust national network of diaper banks, which distribute diapers to families in need through social service agencies.  NDBN will assist these Partners to even better address diaper need in their areas by providing targeted assistance to allow the selected partners to concentrate on infrastructure, development, and other organizational priorities that will lead to increased sustainability and growth.

Diapers cannot be purchased with food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) or the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance for Women Infants and Children (“WIC”).  As a result, families in need must draw on their own limited funds to buy diapers which may cost as much as $100 or more each month.  Diaper banks provide families assistance with this basic need for babies and toddlers.   According to the National Center on Children in Poverty, 3 million American children under 3 years old live in poverty, most of whom wear diapers.  At a rate of six diapers per day, diaper-wearing children in poverty in U.S. need over 6.7 billion diapers a year to stay dry and healthy.

“Diaper banks are essential organizations.  Because they are often grass roots movements starting out of someone’s kitchen or church basement, they are also often vulnerable ones, without secure funding or the staff time to develop new resources,” explains Alison Weir, director of programs at NDBN. “By providing diaper banks with a reliable supply of diapers and targeted technical assistance, we support them as they become stronger and more sustainable to allow them to meet the needs of more low-income families.”

Through an application process, NDBN selected Regional Partners, Community Partners, and Feeding America affiliated Food Bank Partners to participate. These programs were selected based on demonstrated ability to distribute diapers through a large network of agencies and potential for growth.  Thanks to a generous donation of diapers from NDBN’s founding sponsor Huggies®, each Partner will receive a large and assured supply of diapers that will allow it to concentrate on infrastructure, development, and other organizational priorities that will support increased sustainability and growth.

NDBN is proud to announce its new Affiliate Partners:

NDBN Regional partners

  • Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ
  • Happy Bottoms, Kansas City, MO
  • HRPCH, San Antonio, TX
  • LA Diaper Bank, Santa Monica, CA
  • The Diaper Bank, North Haven, CT
  • Westside Baby and Eastside Baby Corner (Joint), Seattle, WA

NDBN Community Partners

  • A Small Hand, Edinburg, VA
  • Arkansas Rice Depot, Little Rock, AR
  • Bundle of Joy/Diaper Depot (Joint), Chicago area, IL
  • Capital Diaper Bank, Richmond, VA
  • Captain Hope’s Kids, Dallas, TX
  • DC Diaper Bank, Washington, DC
  • Help A Mother Out, San Francisco, CA
  • Homeward Bound Diaper Drive, Phoenix, AZ
  • Junior League of Boca Raton Diaper Bank, Boca Raton, FL
  • Midland Community Diaper Bank, Midland, MI
  • Piedmont Diaper Bank, Winston-Salem, NC
  • Sacramento Foodbank & Family Services, Sacramento, CA
  • The Diaper Train, Raleigh, NC
  • Tri-Cities Diaper Bank, Richmond, WA
  • World Vision, Phillipi, WV

NDBN Food Bank Partners

  • Atlanta Community Food Bank, Atlanta, GA
  • Food Bank of Northern Indiana, South Bend, IN
  • Food Bank of the Rockies, Denver, CO
  • North Texas Food Bank, Dallas, TX
  • Treasure Coast Food Bank, Fort Pierce, FL

About the National Diaper Bank Network

The National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) is a formed national nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that every child in the United States has an adequate supply of diapers to remain clean, dry and healthy. Its mission is to raise awareness of diaper need and to build the capacity of diaper banks throughout the country by creating a national network of community partners. For more information please visit www.nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org.

Erika

“Let me just say that I’m extremely grateful for the diapers. Knowing that there is a resource to help when I’m 2 days short before my paycheck is a miracle. I’m not stressed as I have been at other times.”
— Erika

Save the Date: Our First Facebook Chat March 6 With KarmaWell

 

Here’s something you don’t see every day, but you probably will pretty soon: a Facebook chat as an event. Kind of like a Twitter party, this live discussion will happen on our Facebook page on Wednesday, March 6, from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific Time. We’ll be talking about the humorous adventures of parenthood, online shopping, and how you can easily make donations to charity without even really thinking about it. KarmaWell, makers of a charity donation app, will be joining us and offering prizes and a diaper donation.

KarmaWell is a desktop browser app that allows you to make donations to your favorite charity (which is obviously HAMO) every time you make a purchase online on your computer.  Just install it on your browser, choose your charity, and when it’s time to buy Junior’s spring wardrobe online, a percentage of your total purchase will be donated. And it’s completely free!

The more people install and use this app and select HAMO as the beneficiary, the more we’ll be able to collect to help get diapers on babies. Everybody wins! For every installation of KarmaWell that happens as a result of our Facebook chat, the company will donate diapers to Ascencia, a homeless shelter in the Los Angeles area.

We’ll be joined on our chat by some pretty great ladies who have funny and inspiring stories to tell about motherhood and parenting. Come on over and join us – it will be fun and you’ll be doing a good thing.

“Listen To Your Mother” To Support HAMO

The most powerful way to spread our message, our mission, is by telling stories about the families we help with our donations of diapers. We are so passionate about the telling of stories that we are thrilled to announce that we have partnered with this year’s San Francisco production of Listen To Your Mother!

Listen To Your Mother is a national series of live readings from women that takes place on stages all over the country on Mother’s Day.  The show “celebrates and validates mothering through giving voice to motherhood–in all of its complexity, diversity, and humor.”  The San Francisco production that will feature local writers telling stories will take place on May 11 and a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Help a Mother Out to help us carry out our mission of increasing access to diapers for families in need.

What a great partnership – celebrating and supporting motherhood in so many ways.

Great Baby Romp

GBR will be collecting diapers (closed or open packs) at their conference in March. Please help spread the word about this mom-powered event!

When & Where: March 2nd, 20138:30 am – 4:30 pm

Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF

1675 Owens Street San Francisco, CA 94158

The Great Baby Romp is San Francisco’s first ever conference just for babies and toddlers. A fun-filled event, we bring enrichment class providers together in one space, so parents and children can sample the wide variety of classes offered in San Francisco.

Unlike other events for parents, this conference is 100% family-friendly, offering 15-minute sample classes, extensive amenities for children, healthy food options, and a performance by well known and award winning children’s musician, Kira Willey. This event will host an estimated 600 San Francisco parents and 300 children between the ages of 3 months and 3 years at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF.

Homeless Aid Relies on People and Numbers

The HUD’s Point-in-Time Homeless Persons Count

When we serve the needy members of our community, we like to imagine that our efforts are making a difference.  Knowing that you donated the money to get a pack of diapers that will help an unemployed mom care for her baby is a good feeling.


But also involved in giving aid to people on a personal level is a massive national infrastructure that has to be quantified.  As unsavory a picture as it may seem to imagine city workers walking the streets, pointing to people and saying “23…24…25…” and ticking off marks on a clipboard, it is indeed a thing that happens.

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) “mandates that jurisdictions perform a homeless count every two years,” according to an article by Matt Stevens in last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times.  Stevens notes that LA County’s effort is the largest of any agency in the nation, relying on 4,000 city and county workers to fan out through the area and perform manual counts as imagined above.

On a smaller scale, the Southern California city of Glendale conducts its own homeless count every year.  Help a Mother Out has worked with a Glendale homeless shelter and several local businesses and agencies to get diapers into the hands of needy families there since 2009, and we have witnessed the tremendous amount of caring and effort that those organizations and people put into helping their needy community members.  While Glendale is an example of a municipality that keeps the face of homelessness relevant and personal to the people who help out, the city’s annual homeless count is a useful tool that helps agencies know where to allocate resources.  From the 2012 report:


The results of the 2012 Homeless Count provide information that serves as the basis for
three important priorities:
• understanding the nature and extent of the current trends in homelessness in
the City of Glendale;
• responding to the unmet needs and gaps in services for homeless individuals
and families in the City of Glendale; and
• developing local community and county wide strategies to meet the goal of
ending homelessness in 10 years and ending veterans homelessness in 5
years.

In addition, the reports allow communities to determine how much aid they need.  In the Times, Stevens quotes Michael Arnold, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, who noted “If you don’t know the size of the problem, it’s very difficult to solve it…For many years, communities received homeless dollars without any assessment on how many people were on the street.”

In the case of families with children in diapers, it’s even harder to count the homeless among them.  Many adults who have babies are reluctant to come forward and be labeled as homeless because they are afraid of being separated from their children.  These are the among the families who do not seek aid for fear of being discovered.

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Diaper Stories: School Kicks Off Diaper Drive With a Jingle

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Candeo School in Phoenix, Arizona recently kicked off a school-wide diaper drive.  They support their local agency, Baby Diaper Drive, which holds an annual effort with the goal of collect 200,000 diapers and money to fund an emergency diaper stash for Homeward Bound, which supports underemployed and homeless parents and children. Local schools compete to see which one can collect the most diapers, and the one that wins gets a prize!

With a little bit of elbow grease and a school community full of eager kids and parents, this diaper drive will help BDD reach their goal in no time! The best part of their kickoff event, below, is at 2:10, when the whole school sings their little diaper drive jingle.

SF Law Firm Gives Back

We have some spectacular angels at the San Francisco offices of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. Over the month of December, the firm hosted a charity drive cocktail party and collected 2,510 diapers, 2,958 wipes and raised $850. All this, in addition to the toy drive they hosted for the San Francisco Fire Fighters!

This is EXACTLY the kind of community support that is needed for us to continue this crucial work. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and a very special shout out to new mom Alice S. for spearheading this amazing effort!

Two words: Endless gratitude. Thank you.

If you’ve not yet had a chance to make a year-end gift, it’s not too late to make a tax-deductible contribution for 2012! AND… An anonymous donor will match your year-end gift, up to $5,000. Thank you for changing lives of mothers and babies in 2013! CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR GIFT.

Dear Friends of HAMO,

You are what making a difference looks like. THANK YOU to all of our donors and volunteers who have contributed so generously to Help a Mother Out this year. Pictured below are family advocates Kimberley and Candy. They are among the many front line human services staff who spread the diaper love to moms and their babies at home visitations, parenting workshops and resource centers. It’s primarily because of YOUR help that we’ve been able to continue helping families in need this year. You are utterly amazing and we are totally grateful for all you do.

It’s true that diapers address a basic (frequently unmet) human need. But did you know that they also serve as an effective and innovative relationship bridge for front line staff and low income families?

Best wishes to you and your family for a joyous holiday season and a peaceful new year ahead.

Gratefully,

Lisa Truong, Co-founder, Executive Director

Kim Tracy Prince, Los Angeles Director

Christine Coleman, Danica Remy, Catherine Hazelton, Whitney Moss, Board of Directors

Thank You Connected Women @ Cisco

Earlier this month Connected Women at Cisco Systems hosted their first annual holiday networking event. I had the opportunity to attend the event and speak on behalf of our families we serve through Help a Mother Out. It was a great time had by all and we were so grateful to be invited! Connected Women ended up collected over 2549 diapers for our families.

Thank you, Connected Women! We appreciate your support of our mission!

Reyna

“Not having diapers for my child has felt like a terrible, desperate and hopeless time. It feels bad – very frustrated. Money is hard to come by and difficult to save. I am so grateful. It has helped us economically.
If Help a Mother Out did not exist, it would be very difficult to provide for my child’s basic needs and my own basic needs as well.”
— Reyna, mom to 8 month old baby

Ashaki

Q. What is it like for you not to have enough diapers?

“It is the worst feeling ever. Kid crying because they are wet and I feel bad as a parent because I should be able to provide them. The diapers, they really help me because sometimes I can’t afford them or don’t have the money at all. I appreciate and am very thankful for the donors.”

~ Ashaki, mom of two

Sara’s Merry Holiday Diaper Drive

A big round of thanks goes to long time volunteer and supporter, Sara Steffen, who recently hosted her annual holiday diaper drive. This year Sara and her friends and family raised over 5,000 diapers(4697 diapers + $50 diaper dollars to be exact) for our families.

In one night!

The following day, Mike from Earth Baby (and friend) made a special Saturday pick up to whisk the diapers back to our donated storage at Earth Baby’s warehouse.


We’re so incredibly grateful to have this support! Thanks to Sara and all of her friends for making the end of 2012 extra special for the families we serve. We really think you are the bee’s knees!