In the belief that happiness is a dry diaper, Bottoms Up Diaper Bank hopes to bring a million smiles to Ohio babies through the World’s Largest Diaper Drive in May.

“We never dreamed it would grow this big,” said Bottoms Up President Jo Welsh of Lancaster. “My husband, Tim, started collecting diapers on a small scale in 2018, but we discovered more and more people understood the message about the importance of diapers for families in need.”

They started working on their first World’s Largest Diaper Drive in 2021, when they collected 250,000 diapers. Donations grew by about 250,000 diapers each year since, and now they hope to hit one million.

“People just get it,” Welsh said. “They understand the importance of our mission as soon as we mention what we’re doing, and we don’t really have to convince anyone to give … we just spread the message that there’s a huge diaper drive in May, tell people how they can participate, and the response is phenomenal.”

In addition to the one million donated diapers that Bottoms Up hopes to collect in May, Welsh has set a goal of collecting $250,000 to allow the organization to purchase various sizes of diapers that might not be donated during the drive.  The monetary goal also helps with the significant cost of delivering diapers to the 21 counties currently served.

Cash donations to help buy more diapers are appreciated, of course, but Welsh hopes people will also go to the store and actually buy the diapers they donate. “That way, they will see how expensive diapers are,” she said, “and how challenging it is for a family to buy the thousands of diapers their child will need before they are potty trained.”

A recent report indicated about half of American families need more diapers than they have, and the results affect those families in many ways that aren’t immediately obvious. Daycare facilities usually require parents to provide diapers for their children, for example, so a family that can’t afford diapers can’t take their kids to daycare, and without childcare, parents can’t work, she said.

And the health factors can be serious. Moms know how quickly a diaper rash can pop up, and how those rashes can turn quickly into major emotional and physical problems if clean diapers aren’t available. 

The Bottoms Up effort is year-round, but the World’s Largest Diaper Drive in May is the big push. Civic clubs, churches, school, businesses, men’s and women’s groups and others are recruited to facilitate local participation and distribute diapers largely in the areas where they were donated, through organizations serving community needs. During the year, Bottoms Up organizes 100 or more local diaper drives in 21 Ohio counties, with a staff of four and warehouses in Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Columbus and Lancaster. 

“We’re coming into the home stretch for this year’s drive,” Welsh said. “From May 1 through May 31, we’ll be helping our participating organizations get the word out, recruit donors and volunteers, and manage pickups. Getting involved is easy, and there are still opportunities to be part of a project we guarantee will bring a smile to the faces of countless babies.” 

For more information, call Bottoms Up at (740) 808-6131 or visit www.bottomsup.life.