A recent story on Facebook went viral when people shamed a huge corporation into doing the right thing.

According to the Washington Post, on September 15, the Winter Park FL police department posted a picture of a young father, holding one child in his arms and holding the hand of the other, attempting to buy two boxes of diapers and a container of wipes at a local Walmart.  Police reported that after attempting to purchase these items with two different credit cards, both failed and he left the store with the children. He then returned without the kids, picked up the same items, went to the self-checkout where his credit cards were denied again, and then left with the items.

Walmart wanted to press charges and the Winter Park police posted his photo on Facebook.

The Post reports that Elizabeth Fiedler, a 16-year-old girl from Kansas, saw the post and was upset. She commented, “Doubt I will get a response, but I will pay for these items as long as you leave this man alone.” Her comment quickly got 4,000 likes. People from all over the country chimed in, offering to pay, and asking why the police had to shame this young father online who was simply trying to care for his children. The police initially defended their decision, but when the man was identified, Walmart declined to press charges because of the negative publicity.

I wondered why he didn’t use SNAP (food stamps) to pay for his diapers. My daughter informed me that it is illegal to do so. SNAP is a program under the Agriculture Department and diapers are not covered since they definitely don’t grow on trees.

The cost of diapers is a real problem in this country. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, “one in three families struggles to keep a baby or toddler clean, dry and healthy.” Their website states that 5 million children under 3 live in poor and low-income families. Because of this, the National Diaper Network supports over 225 diaper banks in the United States, which provide free diapers to families in need, serving 280,000 children each month. Their associated diaper banks have names such as Covered with Love and Happy Bottoms.

When I was raising my babies, I used cloth diapers, as disposable diapers were just beginning to be available.  Of course, I was a stay-at-home mom with easy access to a washer and dryer. The National Diaper Bank Network will also help with cloth diapers, though they acknowledge that they are not a good fit for everyone.  Nearly everyone these days uses disposables and they do keep babies much drier and arguably healthier.

According to the National Diaper Bank Network, the need is a real and growing problem in the US.  “Government assistance and/or low-wage jobs are often insufficient to meet the basic needs of a family or an individual. When people cannot afford things like hygiene products or transportation, their lives are disrupted in many ways.”

More information is available on their website nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org. And the National Diaper Bank Network has been awarded the Platinum Transparency Award from Guidestar, a charity monitoring group.