Gwinnett County

Charity supplying diapers to families in need struggling to keep up

By Berndt Petersen, WSB-TV
By Berndt Petersen, WSB-TV

NORCROSS, Ga. — Some diaper prices have doubled, according to a Gwinnett County nonprofit that provides diapers to local families in need.

Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen reports the price of essential baby items is so high, more and more moms need help.

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“These will be gone by the end of the week,” said Jamie Lackey.

Lackey was looking around the 9,000-square-foot warehouse of her Norcross-based nonprofit called Helping Mamas. There were a lot of empty pallets.

“I thought we had seen the worst of it during the early days of the pandemic, but seeing it now, along with the continuous volume of need, is completely overwhelming,” said Lackey.

Lackey founded Helping Mamas eight years ago. She now has warehouses in Norcross and Knoxville, Tennessee. She says if you’ve priced diapers lately, you know about the need.

“Around $25 a box a year ago. Now we’re looking at 40 to 50 dollars a box,” said Stephanie Ungashick, the charity’s director of advancement.

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Even though donations are setting records, the nonprofit is still barely keeping up. Last year, Helping Mamas distributed 900,000 diapers to local families in need.

So far this year, the figure is at 1.7 million. Yet Lackey is seeing more and more families that have never needed this kind of help until now.

“What we know about families that are low income is it’s just one crisis, one thing that sends them into the poverty level. And that one thing right now is inflation,” said Lackey.

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Helping Mamas has organized a special fundraiser in conjunction with this weekend’s Georgia Bulldogs vs. Tennessee Volunteers game.

You can learn more about it here.

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