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There are babies in Newham who have to go too long between nappy changes because their mums cannot afford enough nappies to keep them comfortable.
There are mums in Newham who try to ‘rinse out’ or “scrape off” disposable nappies in order to re-use them as they simply don’t have the money to buy new ones.
Early on in our project we decided to give nappies and wipes to mums and minis who are destitute.
We decided this was a basic human right – to be clean dry and comfortable, and – if nobody else was going to ensure it – we would try.
Fast-forward and year and we are regularly seeing 90 babies in any given week. That is a lot of nappies and a bill of more than £1,000 a month for us.
So we are faced with a choice. Stop giving the nappies and face the issues again or – appeal for new sources of income to support our nappy donations.
This is where you come in……
Could you ‘sponsor a bum’ (or two) through regular giving each month.
It cost £15 a month to keep a baby or toddler in nappies and wipes. Clean, comfortable, not red and sore.
If you are game, please fill set up a standing order to
The Magpie Project
Sort Code : 40 06 30
Account: 03837424
If you want to code your standing order Nappies or similar then we will know to spend it on clean bums only.
Question: Why don’t mums use re-usable nappies?
Unfortunately we are where we are.
Mums don’t have free access to laundry facilities so the logistics of storing dirty nappies and washing them is just too much for their already difficult lives.
We know in a perfect world we would do away with disposables, but in this case we have decided to help in the only way we see we can, in this imperfect world.
Question: Surely everyone can afford nappies?
Unfortunately 77% of our mums have no recourse to public funds that means that the basic safety net of benefits is not available to them.
Some of our mums have zero income while we work to get them support at all, many survive on £66 a week to cover everything – food, formula, travel, phone, electricity etc. That is not even starting to think about toiletries, sanitary protection, or expenses such as shoes and school uniform for older siblings.