Check Out Michelle Schaefer-Old’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Schaefer-Old. They and their team shared their story with us below:

While fostering her now-adoptive son, Michelle Old was watching him experience severe diaper rashes. The infections were so bad that he would end up in the hospital 3-5 times a month on IVs, trying to help his body heal from the infections. Even though Old was changing his diaper 20 – 30 times a day, she could not stop the infections from taking over, causing her son to be extremely ill and in pain. As her son started to heal, Michelle started to wonder about parents who were not able to grab that next diaper to help their babies stay clean, dry, and healthy and knew there was no assistance for these families to do so. She became obsessed with the idea of helping others with the very basic need of a clean diaper. 

In October 2012, Michelle came home from another long weekend at the hospital with her son and decided she wanted to start a diaper bank in North Carolina. At first, it seemed like a daunting task with 3 children, one of them ill, but she sat down and put together a plan, set a tight family budget, and began to focus on covering babies’ bottoms across the state. 

In January 2013, Old formed the Diaper Bank of NC with the hopes of providing 50,000 diapers in her community within the year. The Diaper Bank now distributes over 5.5 million diapers a year state-wide, serving 10,000 babies a month, with branches in the Triangle, Charlotte, Greater Triad, and Lower Cape Fear Region. 

Now with 3 healthy children, Old has made it her life’s work, along with her team, the help of hundreds of amazing volunteers, and the generosity of our community to address the issue of diaper need and distribute dignity across North Carolina. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not! Is it ever? 

I started with a laundry basket full of diapers, never anticipating that I would have to become a warehouse manager, truck driver, forklift driver, public speaker, grant writer, diaper wrapper, marketing guru, supervisor, fundraiser, and all the things that come along with running a successful nonprofit. My vision did not include multiple warehouses and the many hats I have had to wear, whether comfortable or not. 

I have been fortunate to surround myself with experts, and I did not let that negative voice in my head stop me from moving the mission forward, even if that meant it was moving it with a forklift. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
My career trajectory has been fueled by a deep-seated passion and an unwavering commitment to effecting positive change in my community. For over two decades, I devoted myself to supporting victims experiencing violence and human trafficking. However, everything changed when I became a parent, prompting me to realize that my perspective on the world needed to be adjusted, and I chose to retire from my previous career. 

Searching for ways to stay involved in my community while being a parent, I worked in the environmental field, became a small business owner, and eventually founded the Diaper Bank. In each phase, my focus remained on making a tangible impact. I thrive in roles where I can contribute to meaningful change, and I have dedicated my life to ensuring that families have access to the essential items necessary for their health and happiness. 

The Diaper Bank of NC provides diapers, period products, adult incontinence supplies, and formula to organizations working with families experiencing need. 1 in 2 families in NC experience diaper need and there is no assistance for these products; WIC and Food Stamps do not cover hygiene items, so families are forced to make decisions between buying food or buying diapers, and every single time, they will choose to feed their children and go without causing families to use one diaper a day, rinse out and reusing diapers, and make tough decisions about basic needs that they shouldn’t have to make. 76 % of the families we serve work 1 to 3 jobs and still cannot afford hygiene items. 

The Diaper Bank of NC covers 65 counties in NC, working with over 600 volunteers a month who help us distribute dignity to more than 10,000 persons a month. 

We serve four regions in NC, with our newest warehouse in Charlotte, NC. 

We also provide period products in over 300 public schools in NC. We believe that period supplies are school supplies, and no one should have to choose between having their period and going to school. 

We provide adult incontinence to seniors in need. AI costs over $130 a month, and seniors on a fixed income cannot afford these items and will go without, which can make them very sick. 

We provide formula. Even families that receive WIC experience about a week and a half gap between when the formula runs out and when the WIC check comes in. During that time, they use sugar water or thin out formula. The Diaper Bank of NC fills that gap for families. 

Diaper Bank of NC is the only DB to publish research on our work that other diaper banks nationwide can use to discuss their work. 

We distribute our products through organizations working with families to lessen families’ barriers to accessing our products and other products that can help them (food, cribs, car seats). We also have a mobile unit, Essentials Hub, that travels to high-need zip codes and serves families in the communities they live in. 

I can go on and on. Please let me know if you want me to expand on these points. 

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the COVID-19 crisis?
Families living near or below the poverty line are impacted the most when a crisis happens. We saw a 2000% increase of need during COVID, and it has not slowed down at all. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ncdiaperbank.org
• Instagram: nc_diaperbank
• Facebook: @DiaperBankofNorthCarolina
• Linkedin: DiaperBankofNorthCarolina
• Twitter: @DiaperBankNC