Seeing families struggle to pay for their babies' basic needs drove an N.C. woman to start an organization designed to help them meet those challenges. 

What You Need To Know 

Michelle Old is the CEO and founder of the Diaper Bank of North Carolina 

Diapers are not covered by government programs, and Old aims to alleviate the cost for families 

The diaper bank has distributed over 15,000,000 diapers since its founding in 2013

Michelle Old is the CEO and founder of the Diaper Bank of North Carolina.

“When I walk in here and see all these diapers, I actually know the reality of what all this is,” Old said, surveying a pyramid of diapers in her Durham warehouse. 

Old knows essential items for new and pregnant mothers can be hard to come by. Her eyes were opened to the issue when she adopted her youngest son. The head of the nonprofit organization said her son’s health problems made her think about the issue when he was sick for the first year and a half of his life.

“I had the great honor of meeting his birth mom, and I knew then that she could not provide the amount of diapers that we were providing because she couldn’t afford it. Then I became obsessed with the fact that families struggled so hard for this most basic need, and I came home and I said, ‘I think I am going to start a diaper bank’. Everyone said, ‘What’s a diaper bank?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know, but I am going to figure it out.'”

An official at the state level confirmed diapers count as “incontinence supplies” and are typically “only covered for beneficiaries three years of age and older who are incontinent due to disease, illness or injury.” So government programs, like medical programs like Medicaid and nutrition programs like Women, Infants, and Children, don't offer any help for needed items, like diapers. 

“We had a mother share with us that when she doesn’t get diapers from the diaper bank she literally makes a choice between her daughter eating ... or if she gets diapers,” Old said. 

She said this is an example of the kinds of decisions facing some lower-income moms of newborns.

“People assume that someone isn’t working hard enough, doesn’t care enough or isn’t motivated enough and that’s exactly the opposite of what we see. ... Parents making really tough decisions about basic needs that they should never have to make,” Old said.

The mom of three said the diaper bank is a support structure for all these organizations throughout the state putting in the work to make these families’ lives better.

Old said whenever a mom or family has one less concern it makes a big difference. 

The diaper bank has distributed over 15,000,000 diapers since its founding in 2013.