Providing Diapers to Help Community Partners and Families Stretch Resources

Providing Diapers to Help Community Partners and Families Stretch Resources

Once a month, Shawntella Turner fills her car at the warehouse of Share Our Spare with more than 1,000 diapers, plus wipes and formula, to distribute to dozens of struggling Chicago families on the city's South side.

The supplies bring relief to parents served by the nonprofit Chicago Commons who can't stretch their incomes far enough to make ends meet. They also help Turner's organization stretch resources so it can address clients' other household needs, including rent and utility assistance.

"These basic essentials are very costly," says Turner, who, for years, has relied on the donations from Share Our Spare, a nonprofit focused on filling gaps for infants and children up to age five. "We give out diapers every day to working families who are barely making it. It's a big load off them."

Share Our Spare is among more than two dozen organizations and clinical partners selected for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois' expanded Special Beginnings^® initiative. Launched in 2024, the program is helping increase access to pregnancy-related care and improving maternal and infant health outcomes in Illinois.

Share Our Spare's Jesseca Rhymes and Bridget Rundquist help distribute millions of diapers annually to community partners supporting postpartum clients and families.

"This investment in community partners furthers our work to improve access to resources to support overall health and well-being, reduce health disparities and support and engage moms and families on a community level across the state," says BCBSIL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alvia Siddiqi.

Share Our Spare works with national diaper networks, corporations and residents to collect and buy mainly diapers, but also maternity and baby clothes, nursing supplies, toilet training equipment and strollers.

A team of volunteers helps process more than 1 million donated items a year, so the organization can distribute almost everything it receives to nearly 200 community organizations such as Chicago Commons to help support their postpartum clients and families. Share Our Spare's waitlist includes another 110 nonprofits serving hundreds of families.

"We're trying to help people put food on the table," says Jesseca Rhymes, Share Our Spare's operations director, standing among pallets stacked with diaper boxes in a 10,000 square-foot warehouse. "The need isn't going anywhere. It's going to continue to grow."

The Special Beginnings grant from BCBSIL is helping the organization increase capacity and meet increasing demand across Chicago and its suburban counties. In 2024, it distributed 6.5 million diapers for nearly 17,800 infants and toddlers.

"Programs like WIC and SNAP are for nutrition, not diapers," says Bridget Rundquist, Share Our Spare's director of strategic partnerships. "There are no federal, state or local programs that cover diapers."

Research published by the Urban Institute found almost about half of families with infants and children up to age three struggle to afford diapers. More than half of low-income families can't afford to buy enough diapers to keep their children healthy and dry. The average monthly cost of diapers for one child is about $100, according to the report.

"A box of 88 diapers for a small, healthy baby may last two weeks," Rundquist says. "A newborn can go through eight to 12 diapers a day."

Additionally, lack of transportation can make buying diapers even more financially challenging for low-income families. They tend to pay more at neighborhood stores than they do at discount department stores.

"The cost of poverty is so high, especially if you don't have a major grocery store nearby," says Rhymes watching as people fill carts and wheel them out of the warehouse to their vehicles.

Supporting families and their babies

Maria Rattray and three coworkers fill sport-utility vehicles with more than 10,600 diapers and other baby items to distribute to their clients. As case managers at Friend Health, a care provider for underserved residents, Rattray and her team offer services, resources and referrals for hundreds of pregnant mothers and babies on the city's Southwest side.

Diapers are high on the list of essentials.

"This is a miracle, being able to come here and get what we need - diapers, formula, clothing," Rattray says. "The families are very, very grateful. It feels good to give them things they need."