Rising costs are impacting food pantries across the country including in the D.C. area. Corinne Cannon, executive director of the Greater DC Diaper Bank, said that the organization’s “shelves are empty and the needs are really great.”
She said that many families who had previously donated baby food on a regular basis are themselves struggling and can no longer afford to help.
“That’s not a place that we have been in the past,” Cannon said. “We kind of need to raise the alarm.”
The nonprofit has launched an inaugural “Fall Fuel-Up for Baby Bellies,” baby food drive through mid-November. Donations of baby food jars, pouches and toddler snacks to stock the shelves of the baby pantry and support local families through the season are especially requested.
If you are in a position to give, you can purchase items via GDCDP’s Amazon Wishlist, or drop off items directly at the group’s Montgomery County warehouse at 8860 Monard Drive in Silver Spring between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.
The group also has more than 160 donation drop-off locations throughout the D.C. area.
She said before the outbreak of COVID-19, 90% of products donated to the baby pantry were from the public; and while that percentage dropped dramatically during the pandemic, the Diaper Bank expected to see families, who regularly donated, begin to do so again with pandemic restrictions easing.
“We thought we would see an increase in products being donated, and we’re just not seeing that. And I think a lot of that has to do with where we are economy wise,” Cannon said.
Cannon said the Diaper Bank works with a network of more than 75 organizations to provide much needed items, including diapers, wipes, baby food, formula, period products and adult hygiene products to about 42,000 vulnerable families every year in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
