Editor’s Note: This content was kindly (and voluntarily) shared with us by a Share the Love recipient.
When I applied for a cloth diaper loan through Share the Love, I was 43 years old and 30 weeks pregnant with my fourth child, who had just been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. I am a housewife/stay-at-home mother who also cares for my husband’s 86-year-old grandmother that lives with us. My husband had been unemployed for four months, having worked part-time before then, and just received a 4-month trucking job. Needless to say, we have truly been struggling financially since fall 2013, but by scaling back of our budget and the assistance of WIC and food stamps, we have been doing okay. We were not able to prepare for our daughter’s arrival, as we had hoped would happen. At that time, we were choosing which necessities to purchase for our daughter such as a crib, car seat, clothing, or diapers. My husband and I both believed that cloth diapers would be the best choice for our daughter and our family.
Together, we learned about Share the Love, and it has been such a tremendous blessing to have received the diaper loan. Our daughter’s health issues require a lot of additional transportation to and from specialists and pricey medication on top of the “normal” costs of having a baby. It is such a stress-relief that we do not have to ever choose between having gas money to get her to a doctor or specialist, purchasing a medication (or some other necessity) or buying diapers and wipes. I am grateful to those families who have donated diapers to Share the Love; it may seem like a small thing, but it has made a huge difference in our lives. We estimated that this program probably saves us well over $400 every month. I take every opportunity I get to tell people we meet about Share the Love and what a positive impact it has been for us.
While it can be stressful to struggle financially, we truly know the difference between being broke and being poor. For certain we are only broke because we are indeed rich beyond measure with the blessings we have received.
For more information on this program, please visit cottonbabieslove.com.
About the Author
Jenn is the founder of Cotton Babies & creator of bumGenius, Flip, and Econobum, worldwide leading cloth diaper brands. She has four children (Andrew, Oscar, Elsie and Louis) and holds an MBA from Washington University. When she's not working full time, she enjoys teaching business leaders how to implement sustainable economic & social change.
Comments
1 Comment
‘Share the Love’ doing nice job, by spreading cloth diaper to help many families. Families which are unable to buy diaper and wipes, ‘share the love’ help them. I like to donate so that more families get help.