Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruth Alao.
Ruth, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As a mother two now grown children, I can attest to the need for baby supplies mainly baby diapers. About five years ago I was merely having a fruitful conversation with my daughter about giving back to the community as we have always done while living in the state of New Jersey. Of course, my fast thinking daughter came up with a single straight to the point suggestion of creating the Houston Diaper Bank (HDB). While HDB focused heavily on baby diapers indirectly helping mothers and families out, my passion to give back to the community started with feeding the homeless through the bus ministry which I started at my church in Vineland, NJ which by the way still going strong. The success of the NJ project provided the enthusiasm to explore ways in giving back to the community, however, this time for children of Houston. This idea was pitched to church organizations in Houston but I was able to recognize the potential negative effect of additional barriers and non-specific focus of my idea. So born the HDB in early 2013. Planning took just a year before we started distributing diapers for babies.
I couldn’t get the distributions done without manpower, transportation, and infrastural space and therefore I immediately partnered with HISD in 2014, Volunteers of America in 2014, and Catholic Charities in 2015. These organizations will visit HDB office and warehouse every month to pick up diapers for distribution. For 4 years prior to hurricane Harvey, I was able to manage getting diapers for distribution thanks to ordinary donors and my out of pocket purchases.
Now here comes the giant Harvey. The Harvey impact has its own story that will blow everyone’s minds. Just prior to hurricane Harvey the Houston Diaper bank was already struggling with reliable manpower. Essentially counting on volunteers without pay which in itself is unreliable.
The impact of hurricane Harvey is multi-faceted, and everlasting. So many people needed help. HDB need manpower, space, and of course diapers. In some situation needed transportation and offloading equipment (forklift, pallet jacks etc).
Call to action was easy. All eyes were on Houston during the period, more importantly, this also coincided with National Diaper need awareness week in September 2017. Governor Greg Abbott issue a proclamation letter for the awareness and recognizing the HDB nationally. Mayor Sylvester Turner also issued a proclamation letter as well.
As diaper donation began to come in, I had to acquire a large warehouse, screaming as loud as I can for volunteers.
Call for help were answered in many ways. During the period of 6 weeks post Harvey, HDB received over 3 million baby diapers and wipes. With the help of many volunteers including manpower, trucks, pallet jacks, bob cart, etc HDB was able to distribute over 2.5 million diapers and wipes. Houston Diaper bank continued to distribute through partnership in various events
Has it been a smooth road?
I was not expecting it to the smooth, however, the main challenges were described in the previous segment.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are proud and happy to see the smiley faces of some of the parents we help. HDB remain focused on disturbing diapers in general. More importantly, we do this via agencies. That certainly sets us apart from other agency.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, absolutely!!
As a non-profit organization, l came to realize there is little to no support for the non-profit organizations. I was unable to get help from Mayor’s office as well as small business administration.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10101 Harwin Drive Houston, Texas 77034
- Website: http://www.houstondiaperbank.org/
- Phone: 877-433-9832
- Email: ruth@houstondiaperbank.org
Image Credit:
All our Volunteers.
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