By Stephanie Bowers | Project Leader
Loraine, our Diaper Drop Liasion in Puerto Rico, shares the following experience from a recent Diaper Distribution to help furloughed government employees:
In all the cases that presented themselves to receive a kit from Jake's Diapers in Puerto Rico only some captured my attention. You can see the line forming and some are talking to distract themselves but others are silent and with worried lines in their foreheads.
"Next" I called out and a woman of fifty something sat down. I looked besides her or behind her to look directly at the young person I had to talk through and give them examples of how to use the diapers and so on. There was only her.
She started fidgeting in the chair silently and kind of ashamed and while looking at her hands she said, "I don't know if you can help me and as a Federal employee we are considered to never have lack of anything because of our income but is hard and more so since the shut down"
I kept silent and respected her time to explain. She took a deep breath, "My mom has Alzheimer and I have not been able to eat or sleep thinking of her diapers or everything"
I have to admit this is not rare for me to see, the silent ones are the ones I always find to be yelling the hardest and needing help. So I just gave her my biggest smile and said, "let's see how we can help you out". She nodded and rearranged her purse and told me her mom was already a size small on disposables. I showed her the cloth Diapers from Jake's for special needs and asked her if she though it would fit her mom. A single tear slipped and she nodded "yes" while her chin was trembling. Her stubbornness reminded me of my mom but the despair in her eyes followed by relief was all I needed to see. She presented evidence of her mom and thanked every once in a while about the diapers.
Thank you for providing dignity and hope for families in Puerto Rico. I encourage you to reach me at stephanie@jakesdiapers.org with any questions you may have. I'd love to hear from you.
~ Stephanie
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