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Healthy Start Coalition Presents Diaper Drop

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By Klint  Lowry | The Suncoast News

Published: May 17, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Babies don't know the meaning of the word recession. Through mortgage crises, credit crunches, run-away gasoline price increases they just keep coming.

A baby can be a mixed blessing when household budgets are already strained to the limit.

In response to the economic times, Healthy Start Coalition of Pasco restarted a tradition last Saturday. It once again presented a Diaper Drop and Baby Shower Extravaganza.

Dozens of mothers-to-be were already at the Little Achievers Learning Academy before the event's official 10 a.m. start. They were so early some of the participating vendors and agencies they were there to see hadn't yet a chance to set up their booths.

In the minds of the organizers the size and eagerness of the crowd validated the coalition's decision to start presenting the event again.

"We stopped about eight years ago," Wendy Seymour, coalition community liaison, said.

The coalition used to hold a countywide event for expectant mothers and women with young children, Seymour explained. The scope of the event, however, made organizing it a year-round project.

Given the current economic conditions, there now is a big need in Pasco County for an event like this, coalition officials decided. For logistical reasons, however, they opted to have two smaller events, one in West Pasco and one in East Pasco.

The purpose of the Diaper Drop and Baby Shower Extravaganza is giving expectant and new mothers a one-stop source of information. That information includes the names of agencies and companies that could them raise happy, healthy children.

"There's a big need," said Healthy Start Coalition of Pasco Executive Director John Tschirhart.

Pasco County's population is growing fast, Tschirhart said. So is the birth rate, increasing by about 400 per year.

At the same time, Pasco County has higher rates than the state average for mothers who smoke, teen pregnancies, families with no dental or health coverage and low-birth-weight babies.

And as the economy worsens, he said, the need for education and any kind of financial relief is critical. Tschirhart mentioned a recent $7,500 grant from the Community Foundation, bought new cribs for parents who took the "Gentle Touch" safety course.

A crib is important because it could prevent the kind of accident in which a mother or father rolls onto and suffocates an infant sleeping with parents, Tschirhart noted.

For weeks leading up to the event, the coalition accepted donations of diapers in all sizes. They were given away at the shower.

A baby can go through diapers pretty fast, Tschirhart said. These donations could spare young parents from having to decide between buying diapers or a tank of gas to get to work.

The dozen or so vendors offered services and products geared toward newborns. Several offered information, from warnings about the effects of alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy to nutritional tips for during and immediately after pregnancy.

Others vendors were just plain fun. Like Megan Ryan's table. Ryan is two months away from having her second child.

A Weeki Wachee mermaid for 11 years, Ryan started a sideline business while pregnant. She makes "diaper cakes," decorated packages custom designed to look like fancy, three-tiered cakes.

Look closer and you see the "cake" is a fresh supply of rolled-up diapers.

The Healthy Start Coalition can be reached at 727-841-7888 or online at www.healthystartpasco.org>.

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