Not your average teen, a recent Florida Virtual School (FLVS) student and Girl Scout set out to help babies in poverty in her local community of Naples. When she found out babies often don’t have clean diapers due to financial challenges, she researched the need, interviewed a local childcare center director, and created a video booklet to raise awareness about the problem. She wrote the booklet using the pseudonym “Cadette.”
“It’s disappointing and sad if you don’t have diapers for your baby. If you don’t have enough money, I wouldn’t say it’s your fault,” Cadette said. As an independent Girl Scout with Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida, Cadette is organizing a diaper drive for needy families in Southwest Florida. She knows stretching the time between diaper changes can cause infections. Cadette is working toward the Girl Scout Silver Award, given to those who implement a sustainable project to help the local community. Each Silver Award project is expected to take 50 hours to complete and make a lasting impact.
The teen Girl Scout can see there’s a demand with diaper prices continuing to go up. Families are unable to use SNAP or WIC benefits to buy them. The benefits of this drive are two-fold. The diapers will help parents continue to work. Childcare centers require a supply of diapers parents often can’t afford. The Girl Scout volunteer working with Cadette and two organizations helping with the project, Healthy Start of Southwest Florida and Child’s Path, are all very proud of Cadette’s vision and her concern for youngsters. Cadette says she chose a project that would help infants and toddlers to “make them feel loved.”
Having just finished eighth grade, Cadette created the following video booklet to raise awareness about the need for diaper banks and developed a survey to measure the impact.
Learn more about Cadette’s diaper drive for Healthy Start of Southwest Florida. Diapers can be purchased on Amazon and shipped directly to Healthy Start at https://amzn.to/3rnzm6A.
this is soo cool