Haverford students conduct a drive for diapers

The students in Faith Irons' child development class at Haverford High School know a thing or two about toddlers. They even draft their own lesson plans and teach classes for preschoolers.

But when they read a recent article in The Inquirer, they learned about something new: the struggles of mothers who can't afford enough diapers, a problem that can lead to rashes and infections, child abuse, and depression for mothers.

More important, they learned they could help.

Irons' students launched a drive that collected more than 33,000 diapers.

The class donated 500 diapers to each of 13 needy families identified by a school social worker. Several boxes went to a women's shelter in Reading where one teacher's mother works.

On Monday afternoon, nine students delivered the remaining diapers - enough to fill almost every seat of a school bus - to Cradles to Crayons in Conshohocken and Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center in Upper Darby.

Happily preparing for the drop-off, the students ate cupcakes with white chocolate diapers on top that one girl in the class baked for the occasion and recounted their five-week effort to "Stuff the Bus," as they named their campaign.

They received permission to duck out of homeroom each morning for two weeks so they could visit other rooms to encourage students to donate.

Knowing that many might not go out of their way to buy diapers, some teachers encouraged students to chip in a few dollars each, then bought packages of diapers to donate.

Irons' students took a field trip to the elementary schools in the district and were amazed to watch about 15,000 diapers fill the collection boxes they put there.

They drafted a student's aunt - a graphic designer - to create a flier and T-shirts for their effort. They also recorded a commercial about the drive for the school's TV channel.

When students collected checks that were mailed in during the drive, they were surprised to learn how expensive diapers were.

To wrap up their drive, they piled boxes of diapers to build a "diaper dungeon" at a supermarket over a weekend and asked shoppers to buy a box of diapers to contribute so their teacher could get out of the "prison."

"We do a lot of drives through homerooms, but this one really became such a community event," principal Jeff Nesbitt said.

Natalie Bova, a senior in the class, said she learned to think twice about the need in her own community. "It's actually a big problem for people in our own town," she said.

A classmate, Christina Wagner, said the effort made her consider the far-reaching effects of poverty. Some students cannot come to preschool because the schools require diapers, she said, so those children become disadvantaged not only economically but also educationally.

"We never connected the dots before," said Wagner, a junior who wants to run the drive again next year.

jzauzmer@phillynews.com 610-313-8207 @JulieZauzmer