LYNN — Families lined up at the Demakes Family YMCA ahead of Mother’s Day Saturday to receive newborn necessities as part of a community baby shower hosted by international nonprofit organization United Way.
Held in partnership with Catholic Charities of Greater Boston and Lynn Economic Opportunity (LEO), the event provided 150 expectant Lynn families struggling with the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic with a one-month supply of diapers, wipes, and other necessities — as well as $75 Visa and Amazon gift cards — to help care for their newborns.
“It’s really great to watch the communities rally together to help fill a need that often goes unaddressed but is actually very important,” said Nicole Shiner, Operations Director, Community Impact for United Way. “These are items that aren’t always covered by economic assistance programs, so it’s always great to be able to help fill that gap for the time being.”
Laura Chadwell, Director of Grants and Mission Advancement at the Demakes Family YMCA, said this is the second year the YMCA has hosted a drive to help young families counteract the pandemic’s devastating effects.
“We started a diaper drive at the YMCA last year at the start of the pandemic because you can’t use food stamps or WIC benefits to get diapers, and diaper need was exploding everywhere,” Chadwell said. “We worked with local City Councilor Fred Hogan, and he started collecting diapers for the community and bringing them here for distribution, and since then diapers have just started showing up.”
Chadwell said that although the YMCA gave out more than 50,000 diapers in 2020, the need for diapers, especially for toddler-age children, is still high.
She added that the center is still happy to accept donations of diapers, as well as formula, to redistribute to new mothers, and those who want to donate can drop their donations off at the YMCA.
“It’s great we’re able to serve this many families, and at the same time, it’s sad that we have to serve this many families,” Shiner said.
Baby shower drives were also held this weekend in other Massachusetts gateway cities of Dorchester, Lawrence, and Attleboro, as well as the New Hampshire gateway cities of Portsmouth and Rochester.
Communities were chosen primarily based on economic need, with a total of 1,000 families served across all six cities.
Organizations that helped sponsor the event in every community include PNC Bank, Bank of America, John Hancock, Onex Falcon Investments, Tufts Health Plan, Wegmans, AEW, Sturdy Memorial Hospital, Well Sense Health Plan, Wegmans, AEW, Sturdy Memorial Hospital, Well Sense Health Plan, Rotary Club of Portsmouth, NH Healthy Families, Amerihealth Caritas New Hampshire, and United Way Women United Leadership Group.
United Way will also offer families a week of virtual resource fairs with a number of community partners, including Boston Children’s Hospital, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts WIC, Tufts Health Plan, and Raising a Reader.
Topics include basics of newborn well visits, breastfeeding and bringing home a newborn, child development resources, and parenting support and celebrating reading with children.
“It would be great if we could do more of these (events) just to really help raise awareness about the need (for baby supplies). It’s comparable to hygiene products as something that really goes overlooked,” Shiner said. “This is something vital, and it’s also worth celebrating. It’s something to be celebrated, becoming a mom, so this is a great event to encapsulate all that.”
