The fourth annual Diaper Drive event co-sponsored by state and local law enforcement is underway in Madison and the Madison Police Department needs help in making it a successful year. Bare Necessities, a non-profit that provides diaper donation services across the shoreline, is once again spearheading this event.

Bare Necessities President Tina Bascom said the need truly is critical for families. The cost of diapers, especially for anyone with restricted income, can be overwhelming, and Bascom and the organization strives to not only meet that need, but to bring attention to this often-overlooked problem.

“The main need for families comes down to the fact that most daycares require a full day’s supply of disposable diapers for every day that the child is there. Therefore, if a family cannot afford that, their child cannot go [to daycare] and [the parent] cannot go to work,” said Bascom. “On average, a family with a diaper need misses four days of work a month and when you think about that, you have no opportunity to advance in your job; if you’re going to school, missing that much of your education makes it impossible to get a leg up.”

Bascom said many families are forced by circumstances into reusing diapers, going without diapers, and placing further stress on families, all because they simply can’t afford diapers for their children.

“It really is a vicious cycle,” said Bascom. “To relieve families of that worry of ‘What am I going to do?’ is what we are trying to accomplish.”

All of the local police departments from East Haven to Westbrook are participating in this year’s event. Staring Feb. 1, residents can drop off actual donations of diapers at any of the town police departments, or they can make a monetary or purchase diapers via the organization’s website and crowd funding link.

Madison Police Department’s Public Information Officer Lieutenant Jeremy Yorke said the department has participated every year and is fully behind the effort.

“The Madison Police Department has been participating in the drive for several years now, and I know that yearly between all the area departments the whole drive has collected more than 25,000 diapers,” said Yorke. “It’s a great way for us to give back to the community.”

Yorke said that as a new father himself, and he is well aware of the how the much the cost of providing such an essential item can be for families.

“I have a three-month old, so I know exactly how expensive diapers can be. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the police department to help out our community,” said Yorke. “Not that many people know about this organization and what they do so it’s a great opportunity.”

Bascom said that the organization’s mission is to provide diapers and wipes to those in need through local pantries and community service organizations. Their vision is to ensure that families in need will be able to live in diaper stress-free environments and have access to all basic needs.

According to Bascom, to accomplish this Bare Necessities partners with social service agencies and food pantries along the shoreline to be able to supply diapers and the organization is the only recognized diaper bank on the Connecticut shoreline.

Bascom said the organization relies heavily on support from local communities and the need is an ever-looming problem.

“One thing we want people to know is that we can’t do this without community support. We are extremely grateful to our communities and our relationship with law enforcement through this drive has been tremendous,” said Bascom. “We are so grateful for every opportunity we have and every person we meet. Getting the word out about this is very rewarding for us.

“People ask whether a drive was successful, and it’s great to look at the number of items we provide, but for me personally and most of our board, we don’t necessarily measure our success by that…It’s all about the number of people are aware pf diaper need,” she added. “That is the success of the drive. How many people can we reach and inform of diaper need is what makes the drive successful.”

According to Bascom, the organization has grown from supporting five families in 2015 to currently supporting more than 275 families.

Some sobering statistics provided by Bare Necessities are below:

• One in three families in the U.S. have diaper need. Six to 12 diapers are needed per day for infants/toddlers at an average cost of $100 a month.

• Diapers and toiletries are not covered under safety net programs such as SNAP and WIC.

• Connecticut poverty statistics show that 38 percent of children under the age of 3 live below the poverty level.

• Statistics show that a pregnant mother will go without food in order to purchase diapers for a child.

• Children must have a full day’s worth of diapers to attend private or government daycare.

Anyone in need of diaper services or donations can contact the organization or also use any of the shoreline social services agencies or food pantries.

Diaper sizes 4 to 6 are most needed. Monetary and Amazon wishlist donations are also appreciated; details are available at Barenecessitiesct.org.