When Karen Pittsley, 77, lost control of her bladder and started dealing with incontinence, the Texas Diaper Bank helped restore her dignity.
“When you get old, nobody expects that you’re going to be back in diapers, but it’s a reality for many of us seniors,” said the retired nurse who lives in San Antonio. “The diaper bank has just been a godsend to me.”
Erika Aranguiz, program manager of direct services, center, shows Zachry Corp. volunteers how to repackage adult incontinence pull-ups at the Texas Diaper Bank.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
Travis Mross, president of Zachary Construction and the board president of the Texas Diaper Bank, and son Chance, 10, volunteer this summer at the Texas Diaper Bank.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
Repackaged adult pull-ups are prepared for distribution at the Texas Diaper Bank in San Antonio. The nonprofit serves families, free of charge, regardless of income, and clients can sign up to receive children’s diapers, menstrual products or adult incontinence products quarterly.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
From left, Jason Aleman, senior vice president of community impact at United Way San Antonio and Bexar County; his wife, Cindy; and Tom Grothues, a board member of the Texas Diaper Bank, volunteer at the diaper bank.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
Volunteers from Zachry Corp. repackage diapers to prepare them for delivery. The volunteer group repackaged 48,500 diapers and 1,720 adult pull-ups during their shift at the Texas Diaper Bank earlier this summer.
Alma E. Hernandez/For the San Antonio Express-News
The Texas Diaper Bank, a nonprofit providing free diapers, wipes, menstrual products, and adult diapers and incontinence supplies to individuals and families in San Antonio and nearby counties, is the oldest diaper bank in the state.
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The Senior Care Essentials program is its fastest-growing — and most expensive, said Lexi Bachran, the diaper bank’s chief of advancement and programs. Adult diapers and other products can cost more than $200 per month, which can be a significant burden for many seniors, she said.
“I’ve gotten calls from seniors pleading with me to not let them die this way,” Bachran said. “We have 224 older adults waiting for services right now.”
While nearly 50% of seniors deal with incontinence, according to the diaper bank, Medicare does not cover incontinence supplies or adult diapers. In San Antonio, the poverty rate decreased for all age groups except older adults, whose rate increased from 13.3% to nearly 15% from 2015 to 2024, according to the city’s Department of Human Services.
The diaper bank’s team of 15 staff members — along with volunteer groups — is stepping up to help the region’s older residents. They gather at the nonprofit’s 30,000-square-foot warehouse on the Northwest Side to organize and pack adult diapers and other incontinence products to the sound of pop music blasting through speakers.
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Senior services get a boost
Pittsley said she’s gotten her hobbies and her life back since she started receiving diapers at her front door through the bank’s program — and that’s exactly Bachran’s goal.
“We provide these services so they can go ahead and take that Zumba class without always having the fear and anxiety of getting wet in the back of their head,” Bachran said.
The nonprofit already has helped more than 40,000 seniors, and now it’s extending its reach.
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Funded by nearly $64,000 from the city, the Texas Diaper Bank has started handing out adult diapers at the city’s senior centers.
“San Antonio has built these wonderful and amazing senior centers, but they’re afraid to use them,” Bachran said. “That’s where we come in.”
The program will be available at the city’s 12 comprehensive senior centers. The city also has part-time senior centers and senior nutrition program centers, which will not participate in the diaper bank program.
The senior centers already offer the Healthy Eating Aging Living Nutrition Program, which provides one daily meal meeting nutrition requirements in a “supportive, engaging social setting,” as well as individualized programs and activities like arts and crafts, exercise classes, field trips and technology classes. They also provide transportation options for individuals who live within a 5-mile radius of a senior center.
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“I hope our products can enhance their experience,” Bachran said.
The city funding runs through Sept. 30, 2027, with an option to renew for another year.
Emphasis on beginning of life, ‘none on the end’
But the diaper bank’s senior program remains the most underfunded compared with its offerings for free baby diapers and menstrual products, Bachran said.
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“Texas puts a lot of emphasis on the beginning of life, which is beautiful and needs support, but there is none on the end,” she said. “Our biggest gift from the state is for childcare, for kids between zero and 36 months.”
Roughly 14% of Bexar County’s population is 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That equates to more than 300,000 people, based on the bureau’s 2025 population estimate.
The diaper bank’s support, which includes delivery to seniors’ front doors, is important because some older adults tend to isolate themselves out of embarrassment over being unable to wait in line for the bathroom or buying diapers in public, said Adriana Rocha Garcia, president and CEO of the Center for Health Empowerment in South Texas and a former San Antonio City Council member.
Rocha Garcia’s parents both struggled with incontinence and were often too embarrassed to ask her for help, she said. It’s hard to see someone who was once so independent be embarrassed about seeking help, she added.
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Bob Imler, 79, a San Antonio native who receives diapers from the bank, said it can all be “really humiliating” because of the stigma around incontinence.
“It’s a very traumatic experience to lose independence and bladder control, and I’ve gotten a modicum of dignity back from the Texas Diaper Bank,” he said.
Imler fell and fractured both his hip and upper femur two years ago and had to start rehabilitation. He found out about the Texas Diaper Bank through the rehab program. He’s received services for about a year and a half, he said, and hopes more people find out about the program.
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The Texas Diaper Bank’s Senior Care Essentials program helps those who are 60 or older and live in the following counties: Bexar, Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, McMullen, Medina and Wilson. Bachran said the Texas Diaper Bank staff are “honored to serve” their clients. “They’re what keeps us going,” she said.
“My mom used to change my diapers and now it’s the other way around,” Rocha Garcia said. “We need to stop acting like seniors don’t matter because they’re the reason we are here today — we stood on their shoulders and we can’t turn our backs on them.”