October 24th is National Make a Difference Day, What are you Doing?

October 24th is National Make a Difference Day, What are you Doing? 14 months ago I had no idea that a day like this even existed. It was brought to my attention by a couple former neighbors that are truly "Making a Difference".

Last year they formed the non-profit company Rocky Mountain Diaper Depot. Both of them of them had been in the medical profession for many years, one as a doctor at Denver's Stout Street, a place for homeless and others in dire situations to get medical help, the other was the administrator for one of the most highly regarded fertilization clinics in the world, and both saw first hand how critical it is for babies, infants and toddlers to have fresh diapers.

There are over 60,000 children under the age of four that live in poverty in Denver alone, many of these families are on food stamps, and believe it or not food stamps do not cover the cost of diapers. So many of these families and single mothers must improvise. Imagine re-using a plastic grocery sack that has been stuffed with toilet paper or Kleenex instead of a diaper, or worse yet, re-using a used diaper after rinsing. Little ones can go through 10 diapers a day.

This is a reality for thousands of toddlers in every major city and causes infection and other serious health defects along with delaying toilet training, not to mention the long term psychological effects on these children. Thanks to Rocky Mountain Diaper Depot and other similar non-profits they are putting a huge dent in this problem.

Last year I was approached by the owners, who had both also been former clients, they asked if I would help sponsor a neighborhood Diaper Drive, I was honored and of course could not resist to do a little to help so many innocent victims. As a neighborhood The Knolls, with its 399 homes, collected over 18,000 diapers and another 200 packs of wet wipes that were handed out through Denver charities that help support the programs, and that was just from our one time neighborhood event.  They actually collected over 80,000 diapers last year, that equals 8-10K days of dry bottoms.

This year for National Make A Difference Day they have again called on me to put the word out to see if we can beat last years totals. I am confident that we will blow the numbers away this year as we have at least twice as many neighbors volunteering as collection points.

If you would like to volunteer or to send a donation to the non-profit, you can do so directly on their website, each donation of $30 will be used to purchase 100 diapers and 3 packs of baby wipes. If you would like a donation form send me a note and I will get one to you.

So what are you doing to make a difference?