At the end of August I had the opportunity to tour the Milwaukee Diaper Mission warehouse and talk with Meagan Johnson, who is the Founder & Executive Director. Milwaukee Diaper Mission is a newly founded non-profit 501(c)3, who’s celebrating their first birthday as they launched in 2020 during Diaper Need Awareness Week. Our conversation touched on why they formed as an organization, how they operate, and how the community can offer support. 

After learning that approximately 1 in 3 families struggle to provide diapers AND that Milwaukee didn’t have a diaper bank to provide local families with support, Meagan decided to take action. Despite being in the middle of a pandemic, she was able to form a board and network with both local and national businesses and organizations to garner support in the starting of a diaper bank in Milwaukee.

In addition to being a local, grassroots organization, Milwaukee Diaper Mission is woman-led and 100% volunteer-run. Their values and mission have been clear from the very start, that every baby in Milwaukee deserves to be clean, healthy, and happy. They believe that offering a cloth option to families gives them dignity of choice - because reusable personal hygiene products should be accessible, affordable, and achievable for everyone. They also recognize and believe that diversity and inclusion are key to building a stronger organization and movement. 

Milwaukee Diaper Mission has partnered with three national organizations that have been working on addressing diaper-need for over the last decade. The partnerships with National Diaper Bank Network, Alliance for Period Supplies, and National Cloth Network/Jake’s Diapers provide an incredible amount of support tools that range from advocating for policy changes to substantial donations of product. These connections along with the tremendously generous sponsorships from over a dozen local businesses Milwaukee Diaper Mission has been able to provide all diaper, period, and postpartum supplies at no cost!

In order to effectively distribute supplies they’ve partnered with a variety of local social service agencies who are directly working with those in need. Some of these local organizations are Maroon Calabash, Hmong American Women's Association, The Riverwest Food Pantry, Bay View Community Center, The Robyn’s Nest, and Metcalfe Park Community Bridges. With each organization serving Milwaukee in a different capacity, they are able to have a wide reach.

Due to the outpouring of support from the people of Milwaukee, several businesses located throughout the area have become designated drop-off sites. Some of these collection bins can be found in Bay View at Cafe Corazon, Walker’s Point at The Glass Pantry, both Little Sprouts Play Cafe locations, and Colectivo Coffee in Shorewood and 68th St-Wauwatosa. The drop-off bins are perfect for people who want to donate new or open-packaged diapers (a perfect option for when you size up and only have a few of the smaller ones left), wipes, pads, tampons, and breast pads which will then be repackaged for distribution once they make it to the Milwaukee Diaper Mission warehouse. 

The Bay View space that Milwaukee Diaper Mission calls home once felt expansive, their lofty goal of filling the empty space with donations and volunteers now feels modest as they’re regularly feeling stuffed to the brim. The space is currently optimized to sort and repackage donations and to provide a safe space for their general day-to-day functions. One of the many goals of Milwaukee Diaper Mission is to find a more suitable warehouse space within the city of Milwaukee so they can continue reducing diaper-need in our community. 

On Sunday October 3rd, Milwaukee Diaper Mission will be throwing a BIRTHDAY PARTY to celebrate their first year! This is a free, family friendly bash featuring live music, friends from a local petting farm, and I will also be offering mini-photo sessions with donations! If you’re unable to join us please consider donating funds directly to Milwaukee Diaper Mission or by dropping donations off at your closest collection site.