DALLAS — One-in-three U.S. families struggles to provide clean, dry diapers for their baby, and Kimberly-Clark and its Huggies brand are asking Americans to join them during National Diaper Need Awareness Week, September 23-29, 2019, by taking action that helps to end diaper need.

The Austin Diaper Bank welcomed a donation of 300,000 Huggies diapers in recognition of National Diaper Need Awareness Week. It marked the largest donation in the Austin Diaper Bank’s history.

“Tackling diaper need is about helping parents provide essentials needed to ensure all babies thrive and get the best care. This is the promise that Huggies wants to deliver for all parents, regardless of income,” said Kristine Rhode, Huggies North America brand director. “Through our partnership with the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) and our retail partners, we are proud to have donated more than 200 million diapers and wipes to families in need since we began this important work back in 2011.”

A landmark study conducted by Huggies found that for parents experiencing diaper need, nearly three-in-five (57%) reported missing work or school because they didn’t have enough diapers when dropping their children off at child care, day care or early-education programs.

Each year, Kimberly-Clark and its Huggies brand are committed to donating 15 million diapers to National Diaper Bank Network member programs across the United States and an additional five million diapers to the Network through retailer donation events.

“Diapers are a basic necessity for every baby and toddler,” said Joanne Goldblum, CEO of the National Diaper Bank Network. “With the support of our founding sponsor Huggies, the National Diaper Bank Network and our member programs are changing lives of children and families.”

There are several ways that you can participate in National Diaper Need Awareness Week:

Hosting a diaper drive is a great way to help alleviate diaper need in the community.

Last Friday, volunteers at the Austin Diaper Bank unloaded a truck filled with 300,000 donated diapers. Huggies and Costco teamed up to make the donation as part of their support of the National Diaper Bank Network and its member programs throughout the country. It marked the Austin Diaper Bank’s largest single donation ever.

“In Central Texas, one in three families goes without enough diapers to keep their children clean and dry,” said Holly McDaniel, executive director of the Austin Diaper Bank. “We are so grateful for this amazing donation of 300,000 diapers, by far the largest we’ve ever received. It will help us fulfill our mission to help the growing number of families who need diapers in six Central Texas counties.”

Over half of all diaper bank programs in the U.S. rely entirely on volunteers. Diaper banks in the National Diaper Bank Network come in many different sizes – but regardless of size, they can always use a helping hand with sorting, packing or wrapping diapers and other basic needs.

Participants at the Vizient Inc. Connections Education Summit in Las Vegas last week joined in a volunteer event to repack a donation of 10,000 Huggies diapers for HELP of Southern Nevada Diaper Bank.  NDBN recommends that programs “repackage” diapers into quantities of 25 or 50 diapers, which enables diaper banks to provide a consistent quantity of diapers to families experiencing diaper need.

In addition, Kimberly-Clark employees across the United States are also participating in diaper drives and events to raise awareness of diaper need. Local and state officials will gather at the company’s North American Headquarters in Neenah, Wisconsin to repack thousands of Huggies diapers on September 25 in support of the Fox Cities Diaper Bank.

Kimberly-Clark’s commitment to eradicating diaper need continues through partnerships and donation events, including diaper donation matching programs at major retailers.

As part of a storewide initiative to provide diapers to families in need, ShopRite and Huggies are donating 250,000 diapers to both the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and The Diaper Bank of Connecticut. From September 15-28, every purchase of Huggies at ShopRite will spark a donation of a day’s worth of diapers to the National Diaper Bank Network.

In September, with any Huggies purchase made at Walmart, Huggies will donate 2 days-worth of diapers up to 1,000,000 diapers to the National Diaper Bank Network, ensuring that all babies have access to clean diapers and other basic necessities required for them to thrive and reach their full potential.

Those interested in helping families in diaper need can similarly support the National Diaper Bank Network and its member diaper bank programs by making a monetary contribution at nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org In addition, Huggies encourages its rewards members to help end diaper need by donating their Huggies Rewards Points to the National Diaper Bank Network by visiting Huggies.com/rewards.