Remember the Diaper Genie in Chicago?
Father Jim recently wrote a guest column in the Northwest Herald.
Many people ask me why such an obvious human need such as diapers is on the food stamps “taboo” list along with alcohol, tobacco, and pet food. The simple answer is that diapers and other hygiene products – including toilet paper; toothpaste, and tampons – are not food items. Our mission is to ensure that families living in poverty have an adequate supply of diapers for their infants, toddlers and adults. And to raise awareness that “basic human needs” include diapers and that those needs are not being met for children and adults living in poverty.
Even with reformed government policies, it is likely that many of our families within our county, towns, and neighborhoods still will need assistance in affording hygiene products, the same ways that families on food stamps sill suffer from food insecurity.
What do you all think? Are diapers a “basic human need?”