Diaper Drive!!

In the Fall of last year, I, along with a volunteer from Denmark, Camilla, got the idea to surprise the Tias here with new cloth diapers. With anywhere from 11-20 babies in diapers at any given time, it is a FULL time job keeping the babies and the diapers clean and ready. Anyone who has worked in Casa 1 knows that what they work with for diapers is difficult at best and hair raising at worst!

It Happens to the Best of Us!

 Let's face it with babies... you know what happens... A LOT! We put the word out that we were doing a "Diaper Drive" to raise money for cloth diapers for Casa de Amor and we had a HUGE outpouring of support! I wanted to use this blog to thank the many who gave to our cause. This was not a tax-deductable donation, so everyone gave out of the goodness of their hearts and many gave sacrificially. THANK YOU to all of you. Below is an attempt to list everyone who gave. If your name is not here and you gave, please e-mail me and I will add your name to the blog!

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE!
Paul and Kamerin Williams/ OR   Anonymous :)/CA        
Derrick and Naomi Clark/ OR       Tracy Cahill & Family/ OH
Burnell and Paula Johnson/OR     Anne & Danyelle Graves/TX
Margaret Ruth Dysart/CA              Dennis & Rachel Knee/KS
Eliot and Sherry Kirk/CA              Heather Cole & Jeremy Knee/TX
Clayton and Kim Gruenstein/MI   Aaron & Laura Ault & Family/IN
Bruce and Nikki Tibbett/CA          Hearts of Hope for Honduras
Savannah Sielbeck/TN                  Iris de Kievet/ Holland                
Paul and Valerie Van Zyl/ID        Camilla's Friends and Family in Denmark
Andrew Zoller                              Michael and Dolores Booher/OR
Leroy and Carol Hopkins/OR     Linda and Friends from Yoncalla/OR
Tim and Diane Nydam/OR         Carol Wood/OR
 Marc Lapointe and Sweetwater Community Church/CA                   

"Thank You, We Love Our New Diapers"

Because of your generous gifts we were able to purchase 300 super-absorbent bleached cotton flat diapers, to put inside the 120 Econobum covers we were also able to purchase. I spent many hours reading reviews and studying which type of diaper would be best for a country where there is no hot water to wash the diapers in and where they also use a lot of bleach to wash the diapers. Also, a diaper that would hold up to thousands of uses and washings. Another thing I considered was the fact that the Tias were not likely to appreciate something a lot different from what they were already used to. We were able to purchase a TON (almost) of diapers that are similar to what they were already using, but way BETTER.

Denise Hershberger came on board and not only raised a significant amount of money for this cause, she also took over the purchasing of the diapers and found us some amazing deals. The people she bought from gave us the diapers and covers at cost. I want to thank them here also and encourage you to purchase your own cloth diapers from them if you happen to need some! John and Jen Lamp own http://trustyz.com/. They helped us purchase Osocozy Flats. Connie owns  http://www.holisticparent.com and she helped us with purchasing the EconoBum covers. Thank you so much for making our diaper drive a HUGE success!

Denise also washed and dried ALL 300 diapers to "break them in" and get them ready for us to use down here. She also took care of shipping them to the various people who were coming down to visit or work with the orphanage and could bring them with them. It was a huge project and I would have been lost without her AMAZING help. She also made 17 flannel baby wipes. I very begrudgingly gave them to the orphanage as they will need them more than I will, but they were very cool! Thank you, Denise, for your labor of love on behalf of the babies at Casa 1!
Getting the diapers from the U.S. to Bolivia has been a job in itself. Three different parties have brought or are bringing the diapers down for us. The people who helped us with this are: Savannah Sielbeck, Marc LaPointe and Sweetwater Community Church, and my parents, Burnell and Paula Johnson who are coming in April with all the rest of the "mountain" of diapers.
The Tia's were very surprised and thankful for the new diapers. All in all they are going to be set for a long time!!! Thank you one and all for your support!!!

"Aren't we cute in our new diapers?"