MUSKEGON, Mich. — There will be a diaper giveaway happening Wednesday, Sept. 13, in Muskegon. There will be another one the following week in Grand Rapids.
Catholic Charities West Michigan has two baby pantries — one in Muskegon and one in Grand Rapids — offering a wide selection of free items and free safety classes.
Just this year, they started a mobile baby pantry with monthly diaper giveaways.
Typically, they give away about 100 diaper kits, which include baby wipes and diaper cream in addition to the diapers.
Thanks to a new partnership with Priority Health, they’re hoping to triple those numbers with these next two giveaways. Organizers anticipate there will be about 300 kits given out at each of the next two events.
Karol Maurer is the director of development and community outreach with Catholic Charities West Michigan. She said, “The prices of everything are going up across West Michigan and that leaves the diapers, wipes and cream, which those are essential resources for these parents to take care of their children. They can’t focus on any of the other needs until those emergency needs are met,” adding that, “These cases of diapers are up to $40 apiece and we know that kiddos go through them really fast. So, it’s been a huge need.”
Each diaper kit includes approximately 60 to 130 diapers.
Organizers hope this will be enough diapers to support local families until the next giveaway.
Already this year, Catholic Charities West Michigan has given out approximately 5,000 diapers.
Wednesday’s event starts at 4:30 p.m. at the Catholic Charities West Michigan location in Muskegon at 1720 Park Street.
There will be another giveaway, Tuesday, Sept. 19, in Grand Rapids at St. Alphonsus Church at 4:30 p.m. Visit the Catholic Charities West Michigan website for its Mobile Baby Pantry schedule.
Priority Health will also be helping with Medicaid renewal. This is the first year since the start of the pandemic that Medicaid enrollees will need to renew.
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