Hannah Cook, district director for state Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, stands by some of the diapers and child care supplies dropped off at Ness's Carpentersville office to benefit the D300 Food Pantry in Carpentersville. - Original Credit: (Mike Danahey / HANDOUT)

Families struggling financially amid rising costs are turning to nonprofit agencies for help in obtaining diapers, creating a demand the agencies are having a tougher time meeting, officials said.

Safety net programs like food stamps and WIC don’t cover diapers and there are no federal or state programs to assist families with diaper needs, said Anne Marie Mathis, founder and CEO of the Keeping Families Covered, which works with family services provider Kids Above All in Elgin.

“Demand is high right now as manufacturers have increased the prices of diaper products steadily ever since the pandemic began. Diapers are less affordable now to those who need them most,” said Phyllis Mueller, director of The Diaper Bank of Northern Illinois.

The nonprofit diaper bank, based in McHenry, provides disposable diapers at no charge to the D300 Food Pantry in Carpentersville and other organizations. It has distributed more than 500,000 diapers a year for the past three years, making it one the larger diaper banks in the nation, Mueller said.

State Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, used the lobby in her Carpentersville office as one of several drop-off points for her diaper collection drive, which ends Sunday. (Mike Danahey / Chicago Tribune)

But those higher costs and increased demand are taking a toll on what groups like the Northern Illinois Diaper Bank can do. Leslie LaMarca, executive director of the D300 Food Pantry, said they’ve been informed that diapers are going to be harder to come by through at least the end of the year.

Elgin lacks a diaper bank of its own, and that’s making it tough for struggling families in the city to obtain the items they cannot afford to buy themselves, said Charlotte Erickson, early childhood supervisor for Kids Above All.

It’s why service groups and government officials have been holding more diaper drives than they have in the past. One of them was organized this past week by state Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, whose event to help the D300 pantry ends Sunday. Collection points were set up in Carpentersville and East and West Dundee.

A “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive in the parking lot of the Jewel-Osco store at 652 Kirk Road in St. Charles also ends today. It was organized by state Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, Children’s Home and Aid and Family Focus.

The Diaper Bank of Northern Illinois used to get donations from diaper manufacturers but that has slowed since the pandemic, Mueller said.

“That means we must purchase most of the diapers we distribute, then give to those in need free of charge,” she said. “Although we order in bulk in order to keep our purchase prices down, suppliers have also increased their prices. As anyone who has infants or adult family members in need of diaper products can attest, diapers are very expensive.”

And even with the orders they have placed, supply chain issues that continue post-pandemic mean they are not getting all of the items they have requested, Mueller said.

Infants can go through 10 to 12 diapers per day and toddlers will use as many as seven or eight daily, Mathis said.

“At a cost of at least $70 to $80 per month per child, diapers are a big expense,” she said. “Diaper need affects one in three families. …There are over 11 million children between newborn and 3 in the United States, and 47% of them live in low-income families.”

It’s not unusual for Food For Greater Elgin to sometimes exhaust its diaper supply, as it did this past Wednesday, Executive Director Michael Montgomery said. The nonprofit food pantry counts on diapers donated by the public or local grocery stores and Walmart, with which it partners, he said.

The same is true in Hanover Township.

“The Hanover Township Food Pantry is experiencing a higher demand for larger-sized children’s diapers. The pantry is always low on sizes 3 and up,” said Thomas Kuttenberg, director of community and government relations.

Peter Weldon, president of FISH Food Pantry in Carpentersville, said, “While we’re staying ahead of the curve, diapers are harder to get. We’re definitely seeing that.”

FISH accepts diaper donations and also purchases them with money donated to them, Weldon said.

What’s being seen in the Elgin area is not just a local problem, the officials said.

“National Diaper Bank Network member diaper banks distributed nearly 188 million diapers in 2021,” said Troy Moore, chief of external affairs.

The network serves more than 225 affiliates of which The Northern Illinois Diaper Bank is one. Demand increased dramatically during the pandemic and continues to rise even as COVID starts to wane, Moore said.

“We expect continued growth in 2022,” he said.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.