OC Diaper Bank receives funding to stay open two more years

State Sen.Tom Umberg knows the importance of diapers.

Umberg (D-Santa Ana) has seven grandchildren, and he said six of them are 3 or younger.

“[Diapers are] very expensive, and it’s hard to get around them,” Umberg said. “You can’t just cut back on going to restaurants, or something like that. When you have to tighten your belt, that’s a hard thing to tighten.”

Thousands of families depend on the OC Diaper Bank, run by Community Action Partnership of Orange County. The nonprofit works with about 80 partners to get diapers to those in need, with more than 47 million distributed since the program began in March 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, CAP OC received some much-needed funding to solve a potential Pampers problem.

Gregory Scott, president and chief executive of CAP OC, said the organization received more than $2.5 million to keep the diaper bank operating at full capacity for the next two years.

The state Legislature dedicated $9 million for diaper banks statewide, encouraged by a budget request from Umberg, with support from Assemblyman Avelino Valencia and the entire Orange County delegation.

Daniel Jimenez drives the “Tom Tom truck” in delivering baby wipes to Families Forward in Irvine on Wednesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Of that statewide total, the OC Diaper Bank received $816,000, Scott said, which represented a decrease. But a sizable allocation of $600,000 from the Orange County Board of Supervisors, along with a $1 million donation from the Sun Family Foundation, also helped keep the wheels turning and the diapers flowing.

CAP OC also received $200,000 from First 5 Orange County, Scott said.

Previously, he was worried that funding for the OC Diaper Bank would go away at the end of June, when the previous fiscal year ended.

“We were thinking the game was over, that this was not going to happen,” Scott said. “We were looking at ways where we could sunset this particular program. … All of those things came at the last minute, but that helped us secure funding moving forward. We’re funded for the next two years, and it gives us a runway to create a sustainability plan going forward so that we’re not in this situation again, solely depending on the state for funding.”

The OC Diaper Bank typically makes deliveries in a truck with a stork on it, dubbed the “Tom Tom” truck in reference to allies Umberg and state Assemblyman Tom Daly, who first helped secure funding for the program in the state budget.

Families Forward CEO Madelynn Hirneise stocks baby wipes on the shelf on Wednesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Umberg said he’s known OC Food Bank director Mark Lowry for decades. The OC Food Bank is another CAP OC program.

“The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and Mark is just very persistent and passionate,” Umberg said. “I love him for it, I really do. He’s advocating for a great cause … Babies need certain things. They need sleep, they need formula or food and they need diapers. You mix that in with some love and affection, and you’ve got the necessities to take care of a baby.”

Officials at nonprofit Families Forward, which runs a food bank at its Irvine location, are certainly glad that the OC Diaper Bank will live on. On Wednesday, Families Forward received a shipment of baby wipes.

Families Forward CEO Madelynn Hirniese said that last year the organization was able to provide about 3,500 children with diapers.

“For families with children, the request for diapers is steady,” she said. “Having a steady stream of diapers is one less burden for us to have to worry about. We’ve got a constant stream of supply, so we can focus on food and wipes and other essential items.”

Yvonne Sanders and Madelynn Hirneise, from left, organize a delivery of baby products to the Families Forward facility in Irvine.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Families Forward also recently wrapped up its back-to-school program, distributing 1,383 backpacks to children. At a community resource fair on Aug. 10, several stylists from Paul Mitchell Hair Salon were on hand to give haircuts to parents and children alike.

Hirniese knows that diapers are another valuable part of the puzzle.

So does Scott, whose organization has emerged from a dire situation with the funding to keep a vital resource coming.

“When families don’t have enough diapers, we’re talking about rashes for children, we’re talking about infections that they can get from not having enough diapers and not being able to have the wipes and be changed in that way,” he said. “It sounds very fundamental, but it can cause a health risk as well. It’s not only the economic issue for families, it’s also a health issue that we’ve got to really think about.”