This wasn’t how she planned it.
When she was in high school, her whole life was ahead of her. She had aspirations, she had plans, she had hope.
But life has changed for her. Maybe she fell in with the wrong crowd. Maybe she took a risk she thought she could handle. Maybe she turned to a substance that promised comfort but only enslaved her.
Today, she’s going from apartment to apartment every third night trying to find a place to lay her head. Her child, the little one she carries on her hip, comes along with her. The baby sleeps on couches, wrapped in whatever blanket they can find. Sometimes they share the floor.
She can barely afford food. Routine medical care is out of the question. Even diapers — something so basic, so necessary — are out of reach for her. As a result, she leaves a diaper on her daughter for way too long. She may even scrape out a diaper and put it back on her daughter.
Diaper need impacts more than finances. The health risks for babies, including diaper rash and skin infection, urinary tract infections, and delayed potty training are just a few of the terrible consequences of the lack of diapers.
Emotional impact on the mother is profound, too. Research indicates that mothers who struggle with diaper need are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.
But this mother is not alone. She is not the only one.
Single mothers in America are the most likely demographic group to live in poverty. They are the most vulnerable to homelessness. They are the most often overlooked, the most often judged, the most often left to fight battles alone that no one should have to face. This is not one woman’s story — it is an epidemic. It is an unrealized crisis happening all around us, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, even in our pews.
Bottoms Up Diaper Bank was founded on the notion that mothers like the one in this story deserve our attention. She deserves to be treated with dignity, regardless of the decisions she has made in her life. The pro-life ethos demands it.
When mothers are left without diapers, food, or shelter, their hope can disappear. According to national surveys, one in two families struggle with diaper need. The problem is not isolated to any single demographic; it cuts across race, geography and family type.
No, this wasn’t how she planned it. But with loving compassion, her story doesn’t have to end here.
Bottoms Up is now in 28 Ohio counties and serves more than 80 food pantries, childcare facilities, domestic abuse shelters, etc. This year, Bottoms Up is likely to distribute more than a million diapers to support mothers just like this one. Because it’s the one mother, in that moment of intense desperation choked by anxiety, that Bottoms Up focuses on. When she knows she doesn’t have enough diapers to keep her baby clean, dry and healthy, she is most in need of help.
With all of our help, maybe she won’t cry herself to sleep but instead whisper a prayer of thanks because she knows someone cared enough to help. Maybe her baby will sleep through the night.
The truth is, there are no government agencies that fund diapers and the pro-life movement does not rely on government to aid the poor among us. Being pro-life is more than that; it’s a state of mind.
This mother and her baby deserve more than survival. They deserve respect and dignity. They deserve community.
And she deserves a chance to dream again.
Bottoms Up Diaper Bank is a nonprofit organization, founded in 2018 by Tim and Jo Welsh. For more information, or to contribute, visit www.bottomsup.life.
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