But if no one knows the secret, then no one gets hurt…right? Wrong.

Believe it or not, every night hundreds of babies in our community go to bed wearing a pre-used diaper. Really, pre-used. This isn’t because their parents are stupid or love their children any less. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. These parents care deeply about their children’s well-being and know that simply providing nutritious food should always be their first priority. But in low-income homes parents can’t always afford both groceries and diapers; something’s got to give. Using their ingenuity, a number of these parents have figured out that slowing down the rate at which their family goes through diapers is one way to help make ends meet. And so begins the routine: soiled diapers get dumped in the toilet and then quietly swaddled back on baby’s behind. Not surprisingly, this practice leads to health problems small and large.

Since 2013, PDX Diaper Bank has been helping clean up this harmful practice by facilitating the distribution of donated diapers throughout our three-county area. In April this year, Coates Kokes employees helped PDX Diaper Bank serve its mission with an employee diaper drive matched diaper for diaper by Coates Kokes. By month end 3,092 diapers were collected and are now on their way to local neighborhoods via PDX Diaper Bank.

So if we tell everyone about our diaper drive, we’re just patting ourselves on the back…right? Wrong.

Under our “Live Better” umbrella, Coates Kokes focuses on five areas of communication expertise—one of them being cause marketing. Simply put, cause marketing is about raising public awareness for a social problem and stimulating community engagement and action to collectively solve a problem. We do this with great skill on behalf of many clients. Now spreading the word about our own diaper drive is a chance for us to walk the talk. We learned of a problem and felt inspired to take action. Perhaps we’ve inspired you.

Visit www.pdxdiaperbank.org to learn more.