Photograph courtesy of Megan Fischer/ (Frame, Plants) Frame Art & Olga Korneeva/Shutterstock.com
How did the diaper dilemma of many become the life mission of one? We sat down with Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank’s founder, Megan Fischer, to chat about her efforts.
“In 2014, I was eight months pregnant with my daughter, and my son was a year-and-a-half old. I was cloth diapering him and clicked on an article on Facebook about a cloth diaper bank in the Ozarks, thinking it would have tips and tricks. I didn’t know what a diaper bank was. I wasn’t equating it to food banks, because I just thought diapers are something we as a society provide.
“Instead it was the saddest thing I’ve ever read—I cried at work. I learned how babies end up in the same diaper for days and how disposable diapers get reused. What would it feel like as a parent to love your baby and not be able to give them something as simple as a clean diaper? I searched for one here and nothing turned up.
“I am 100 percent certain I was put on this earth to start Sweet Cheeks, and I’ve never had that feeling about anything before or since. Our first diapers went out in April 2016. Two months later, I had to start a waitlist for our partner agencies. To date, we have distributed 2.4 million diapers and 488 potty training kits. In December, we launched period kits and distributed 5,000 of those. Soon, we’ll start distributing adult incontinence supplies. And now we are getting ready to move into our new facility in Lower Price Hill, and we’re trying to expand farther into Kentucky and farther east in Ohio, toward Appalachia. If it’s on my to-do list, it’s going to get done.” —As told to Jennifer Merritt
Facebook Comments