It’s National Diaper Need Awareness Week, and an organization in Lackawanna County is getting involved, collecting thousands of diapers for families in need.

DUNMORE, Pa. — The shelves at the Baby and Children’s Pantry at Saint Joseph’s Center’s Dunmore location are looking a bit bare now, but only because volunteers are making room for the thousands of donations they’re accepting this week. It’s National Diaper Need Awareness Week, and this is Saint Joseph’s Center’s annual ‘fill the van’ event. 



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“This really aligns with Marywood’s mission, community service, and what better organization to help than Saint Joseph’s,” said Wendy Yankelitis, VP of Operations, Marywood University. 

And they are helping in more ways than one. Together, Wendy Yankelitis and Sara Sauers dropped off the more than one thousand diapers they’ve collected from friends and coworkers over the past few weeks. Then they spent an hour helping accept donations from others. Saint Joseph’s Center’s Baby and Children’s Pantry is part of the National Diaper Bank Network, a movement to bring more awareness of the high cost of diapers.

“Our Baby and Children’s Pantry meets the needs of local families, but we’re also aware that nationally 1 in 2 families fall short of the number of diapers they need each week for their child to be healthy and for their child to go to daycare,” said Sister Mary Alice Jacquinot.

National Diaper Need Awareness Week happens every year, but this is only the third annual ‘Fill the Van’ event. All day long, special guests volunteered at the pantry as a way to get our network of friends and families to donate, too. I had the honor of being one of the volunteers in the morning. All of the wipes and diapers collected at this week’s event will be given to local families. 

“It means so much because we see the desperate need that families have. We really give just a supplement. Parents are responsible for providing diapers for their children, so when they come to our pantry, we’re only able to give them a supplement because we help hundreds of families each month, which becomes thousands of families in the course of a year,” said Sister Mary Alice. 

Last year, the ‘Fill the Van’ event collected more than 30,000 diapers, along with wipes and cash donations, too. Of course, Saint Joe’s employees and volunteers at the event want to top that number this year. 

“I just think it’s fantastic that we’re seeing the community come out, full support, but it doesn’t surprise me being in Northeast PA,” said Sara Sauers, Chief Information Officer, Marywood University. 

The Baby and Children’s Pantry is open Monday through Friday; donations of diapers, wipes, and gently used clothing are accepted all year long.