The non-profit National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) launched this month aiming to improve the health, safety and wellness of babies by providing something as small as a diaper.

NDBN's goal is to directly impact the ability of local diaper banks to provide diapers to address the critical issues of children’s health, child abuse prevention and prevention of homelessness and neglect caused by poverty.

Nancy Woodland, Executive Director of WestSide Baby, will serve as a founding NDBN Board Member. “I am honored to serve as an NDBN Board Member, a role in which I will work alongside staff to ensure a bright future for families in need across the country. The need is staggering: 1 in 3 American families do not have enough money to buy diapers. To address this issue, NDBN will raise awareness of diaper need and build capacity of diaper banks by creating a national network of community partners. Our vision is to help America become a place where every family has access to diapers they need for their child.”

On Friday, November 18, WestSide Baby will receive a donation of 100,000 Huggies diapers through their “Every Little Bottom” campaign. Woodland reports, “Being safe, warm and dry is more important than ever as temperatures drop and resources become more scarce. This gift of diapers helps us to provide 600,000 this year and allows us to give a bit more to families during this holiday season. ”

Huggies, a Kimberly-Clark brand and the founding sponsor of the NDBN announced the launch of NDBN through “12 Days of Thanks”, a cross-country tour where the brand will donate 12 million diapers in 12 cities over a 12-Day period. The tour kicked off on November 7 and will visit New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver, Sacramento, Minneapolis, Detroit and Columbus.

Woodland said, “As a Board Member, it is especially gratifying to see many of those diapers reach my childhood home town area of Detroit, Michigan. Michigan has struggled so much and this is the first big diaper donation by Huggies to that area. Clearly, the reach is growing and that’s exactly what the NDBN hoped to accomplish.”

Local families in poverty or crisis are unable to purchase an adequate supply of diapers to properly diaper their babies. At nearly $100 per month per child, families struggling to provide adequate nutrition or pay bills must often choose between food and diapers. Because they are expensive and not covered by food stamps, diapers end up rationed or reused and babies suffer from diaper rash and other serious health issues.