100,000 Diapers Distributed to Those in Need

Community faith groups converged at St. Anne Catholic Church to distribute 100,000 diapers to outreach groups in the Northwest suburbs on Wednesday, Nov. 2.  The event took place following the installation of Fr. Jim Swarthout as the new executive director of the Samaritan Counseling Center of the Northwest Suburbs, a non-profit, inter-denominational faith-based psychotherapy center.

More than 13 community agencies drove their trucks and vans into St. Anne's parking lot to receive free Huggies diapers unloaded from a semi-trailer truck sent by the Kimberly Clark Company.  A crew of boys from Barrington High School helped transfer the palettes of diapers from the trailer to the agency vehicles.

"This is our fourth year of donating diapers," Fr. Swarthout said. "There's a huge need for diapers, particularly in this economy where people are struggling to pay their monthly bills.  Most folks don't realize that food stamps don't cover diapers."

As pastor of the St. Paul Episcopal Church, Fr. Swarthout oversaw the opening of the St. Paul Diaper Bank Partnership in 2009.  Today, the Partnership serves more than 1,500 people through nine social service agencies and distributes 15,000 diapers each month.

Samaritan Counseling Center is a faith-based service devoted to mental health in the Chicago's Northwest suburbs.  The center supplements the counseling ministries of area churches by providing professional psychotherapy from a Christian perspective. 

Bishops, elders, and rabbis from diverse denominations gathered to celebrate the counseling center's new leadership on Wednesday and to partake in the Diaper Bank distribution.