Did you know Nestlings Diaper Bank is just a baby?

We are an infant organization.

Dramatic changes occur in the first six months of a child’s life, and similarly Nestlings is celebrating the growth and development of our newborn nonprofit organization.Since beginning earlier this summer we have been able to collect, sort, and distribute nearly 8,000 diapers that directly benefit local babies.

And the “warehouse” is still a living room.

And our “staff” still consists of the 3 volunteers who started Nestlings. 

(If you missed it, you can read more from the Holland Sentinel article printed back in July: Women form nonprofit Nestlings to meet diaper demands of families – Holland, MI)

And just as growing babies require support and nurturing in order to develop to their potential, Nestlings could not continue to serve the diaper need in Ottawa County without the support from friends throughout the community. The future growth and potential of Nestlings continues to rely on the ongoing support of members of the community.

Soon you will be able to read more updates on the results of the diaper drives that have sustained Nestlings this summer (we have lots of people to thank!), and also where all those diapers have gone (they go out faster than they come in), so if you’ve been wondering what we’ve been up to… stay tuned!

The need for diapers is constant so a continuous supply of diapers is also necessary. Nestlings supply of diapers comes from what is collected at local diaper drives or diapers we are able to purchase when we receive financial contributions.

The other supply of diapers comes from diapers donated by the local community and dropped off at one of several local businesses throughout Holland and Zeeland. These businesses make it easier for the local community to donate diapers anytime to Nestlings by displaying one of our diaper donation boxes in their store or place of business.

Yesterday Nestlings was able to collect 441 diapers that were dropped off at Smedley Dental in Zeeland.

Several collections of diapers have also been picked up from Inspired, a Gathering Place in Holland (next to ImageMakers Salon).

Thanks so much to individuals throughout the community who stopped by these businesses to drop off new packages of diapers as well as the diapers they had left over after potty training and size changes.

If you would like to donate diapers to Nestlings but cannot attend one of our diaper drives you can visit one of these local businesses to drop off diapers (confirming hours of operation with the business is suggested). Nestlings periodically picks up the diapers that are collected and counts, sorts, and stores them so they are available to deliver to local agencies when they place their diaper order with us.

Holland 49423

MacMedia 160 East 19th Street (616) 392-7832

Deanna’s Playhouse 11172 Adams Street (616) 396-7566

Holland 49424

Inspired, A Gathering Place 650 Riley St Ste A (616) 403-0585

Jordan Financial Associates 421 136th Ave (616) 796-8238

Zeeland

Mom & Baby Again 121 E Main Ave (616) 741-9112

Smedley Dental 133 1/2 E Main Ave (616) 772-7010

Howard Miller Public Library 14 S Church St (616) 772-0874

Nestlings is a community effort – Thank you for your support!

The Center for Women in Transition, located in Holland, helps women and children throughout West Michigan deal with the significant life changes that result from domestic violence. Nestlings developed a partnership with the Center for Women in Transition earlier this summer. We have been able to deliver nearly 2,000 free diapers (and in the specific sizes that were needed) which helps their organization support and encourage more women and children as they go through the challenging time of transition in their lives.

What difference do diapers make?

The Center for Women in Transition emailed us recently to thank us for the consistent supply of diapers and shared this story:

Maria* has been attending our Domestic Violence Education and Support Group for quite some time. Maria is a victim of domestic violence and suffered both emotional and physical abuse from her previous relationship. Maria and her children are safe now but the emotional abuse has caused long term damage to her self-esteem. She comes to our office frequently for support. She and her two children don’t have much financially and she struggles to make ends meet. Today when Maria came to our office with her one year old son, she told the crisis staff person that he was in a wet diaper and embarrassingly admitted that she is feeling overwhelmed and doesn’t have enough money to buy diapers right now. Our crisis staff person immediately thought of our recent Nestlings donation, and went to our storage room to get three packs of 12 diapers and a box of wipes. Maria was so thankful for the assistance! Although this doesn’t sound like much to many of us, this was an enormous help for Maria. What a relief it was for her to be able to make her son more comfortable and to have one less stressor in her life!

*client’s name and some identifying info has been changed to protect her identity

Local organizations like the Center for Women in Transition – and numerous other social service agencies in Ottawa County – work hard every day to serve the families that walk in their doors. Nestlings is thankful to support these organizations with free diapers so they can continue their focus on building relationships and empowering families to get through difficult transitions.

This simple basic thing – providing diapers – makes such a direct impact on peoples lives. Thank you for supporting Nestlings so that we can continue making a difference with diapers.

The Great Start Collaborative of Ottawa County is focused on the healthy development of infants and young children. They know how important the first three years in an infant and toddlers early brain and social development are, and how it is significantly impacted by the early relationships the child shares with parents and caregivers.

It is because of this that the Great Start Collaborative and Ottawa County Parent Coalition have coordinated the Dump Truck Diaper Drive in an effort to fill a dump truck with diapers that will support Nestlings mission of providing diapers to families in need. The Dump Truck Diaper Drive is one concrete and effective way to help ensure that all babies in our community grow and thrive.

The dump truck, provided by Denny’s Excavating of West Olive, will be on Main Street in Zeeland during the Pumpkinfest activities on Saturday, October 8. Can YOU help us fill the truck? Your participation will help ensure that babies start life healthy
and ready to learn. Donate purchased packages of diapers or new, unused diapers left over from potty training or size changes (the greatest need is for diaper sizes 4, 5, & 6).

Get on the road to helping us support the ongoing diaper need. One child goes through a truckload during the diaper years.

Nestlings receives diaper orders from local nonprofit agencies who have applied to partner with us. After becoming an approved agency partner we provide an order form so they can simply request from us the quantities and sizes of diapers most needed by the families they currently serve.

When Nestlings began distributing diapers to our agency partners earlier this summer we weren’t sure which sizes would be most requested or most needed but after delivering thousands of diapers in recent weeks we have found – similar to other diaper banks around the country – that the most commonly requested items are size 4 diapers, size 5 diapers, and size 6 diapers. We have found this information helpful so that we can watch for diaper deals on these sizes of diapers and wanted to share these statistics so that those who support us by purchasing diapers and donating diapers might also be aware of the fact that while ALL diaper sizes are needed and appreciated the ones we have distributed the most of so far are sizes 4, 5, and 6.

In fact there is currently a critical need for sizes 4, 5, and 6 so please consider making a donation of $50, $500, or even just $5 so that we can purchase the much needed sizes to fullfil agency orders as soon as possible. You can donate securely through Paypal using the button you see on the right side of the page.

Thank you for your consideration and for sharing this page with your friends who might like to be a part of helping every baby have a clean diaper.

How many diapers will Nestlings need in order to support the Holland area agencies that have partnered with us?

Nestlings is the first diaper bank in West Michigan so the statistics about the total number of diapers needed by local nonprofit partners is still being collected but in the course of just 7 days we got an idea of things to come.

Within one week Nestlings distributed over 1,200 diapers at no cost to these 3 local agencies who have partnered with us to diaper babies in need.

• Holland Rescue Mission Stepping Stones Daycare
• Center for Women in Transition
• Providence Church – a Good Samaritan Ministries Care Closet location

Above: 900 diapers counted and piled up as they were prepared to deliver to local nonprofit agencies.

The diaper orders submited to us by these local nonprofit organizations were filled with the supply of diapers currently stored in the living room of one of our board members – diapers that we are able to purchase thanks to online donations and diapers dropped off to our local diaper donation locations.

The ongoing success of Nestlings is a community effort.

Make a donation online of any amount or drop off packages of diapers to one of our diaper donation locations so that Nestlings can continue to provide a reliable and adequate supply of diapers to local nonprofit agencies who meet the needs of low-income children and families in Holland, Michigan.