Parents see that all the time. Our kids show us remarkable behaviors, and when we comment on those behaviors they tell us, “I’m just doing what you always did.” We had no idea they were watching so intently.  We had no idea we were influencing anything. We were just doing what needed to be done.

I talk here every once in a while about the Diaper Banks Dimitri and I founded – the first-ever diaper bank here in Tucson, and its sister diaper bank in the Phoenix area. We built the diaper banks for one reason: we saw the need, we knew how to do it, and no one else was doing it.

Tonight we are in Chicago as part of a small group that has been convened for a diaper summit of sorts – 10 diaper banks from around the country, getting together to share opportunities and issues. We had no idea when we arrived that every one of them would greet us as if they already knew us, thanking us for the inspiration we gave them, for the groundwork we laid.  We had no idea we would hear the words, “I feel like I’m meeting a rock star!”

We were just doing what needed to be done.  We had no idea.

Throughout the day, people talked about the overwhelming need for disposable diapers – a must for leaving a child at daycare, a must for an elderly parent, a must for a disabled teenager. They talked about the need for national legislative advocacy, to have diapers included in WIC and in Medicare. They talked about raising awareness of the reality of living in poverty – eliminating stigmas and myths and creating real understanding of what poverty really is, really feels like. And they talked about what it might take to create communities that one day will not need diaper banks.

It is inspiring to realize that this amazing legacy – it’s OUR legacy! An issue, a campaign, a nationwide movement. We had no idea.

People often ask us, “What made you decide to give up 5 years of your life to do this?”  Our answer is always the same.  There was no decision. No thinking feeling human being can see such a need and walk away and do nothing.  We didn’t know it would take 5 years away from our business. We didn’t know we would be in a room with 20 people, each coming to us, one by one, thanking us for the inspiration we gave them.

We had no idea.

Which makes me wonder: What in your life are you not realizing you are influencing? For starters, your family absolutely – but who else is being influenced by what you do, what you say, how you be in the world?

In the 60′s, filled with youth’s unique blend of anger & idealism, we chanted, “The whole world is watching.” In this interconnected world, more and more people really are watching, all the time – more than we could ever imagine. Each and every one of us has no idea the influence our actions may have.

We really are creating the future. Tonight I ran into that face to face, and it startled me, amazed me, overwhelmed me. We are creating the future with every single thing we do.

Fancy that.

Community Organizing is work done to fix the messes made by those who run our nation’s businesses and governments.

Community Organizing is done by both secular and faith-based groups – places filled with people of wisdom and compassion, who put the needs of others ahead of their own need for material wealth. It is the most noble work anyone can choose to do.

This is the work that makes Dimitri and me proud, every day, that we have dedicated our lives to helping such “community organizers” as homeless shelters, environmental protection groups, youth programs. It makes us proud every day for having founded the first Diaper Bank in the nation, and then founded a second one because the need was so great.

And it makes us realize that if there were ever a time to stop calling the work we do “Nonprofit” and start calling ourselves “Community Benefit Organizations,” that time is now.

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Having founded and retired from the world’s first two Diaper Banks, it is rare for us to have 3 wonderful Diaper Bank things happen, all in one weekend. But being “proud parents,” I must share!

First, Friday night, our first-born – the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona – held its annual fundraiser. And while I still insist that the opportunity cost of fundraising events is rarely worth it, this one landed in their laps. A family friend of Executive Director Kirsten Grabo is an award-winning coach of competitive ballroom dancers. And he approached Kirsten about doing a Dancing with the Stars event…

So we spent Friday evening with 300 people, watching great dancing, and seeing old friends who care so much about the issues at the core of the Diaper Bank’s being. Kirsten infused those issues into as much of the evening as possible, which made these 2 founders very proud.

Then Saturday morning, we headed up to Phoenix, where our 2nd-born – the Valley of the Sun Community Diaper Bank – held a Diaper Dump! Yes, they filled a dump truck with over 20,000 diapers! It’s been a while since we unloaded a truck-load of diapers into a warehouse, and it felt GREAT!

All weekend, we got to talk with folks in both locations about the issues of poverty and crisis.

About the fact that a mom who cannot afford disposable diapers to leave at daycare cannot leave her child and hence cannot work.

About the fact that incontinence is a leading cause of elder abuse.

And about all the other facts that surround the simple commodity of a diaper.

And we got to talk with the leaders of both organizations about what’s next:
How do we define our “community?”
How do we turn “media attention” into “engagement” into “action”?
How do we move beyond diapers, and begin creating an equitable and compassionate place to live?
How do we talk about poverty without having people turn off?
How can we provide tools for other communities to learn from, to build their own diaper banks?

A weekend filled with such questions is a great weekend in our book!

Which leads to our 3rd wonderful Diaper experience this weekend. First, a story.

Years ago, at Tucson’s Diaper Extravaganza, a woman approached Bobby Rich, the radio DJ who has committed his soul to this effort from the beginning. Handing Bobby several packages of diapers, Barb shared her story.

Single mom. Son born so premature he had to be resuscitated. Mom quits her job to care for him. Relies on assistance programs for support.

Doing community work, sometimes we all get jaded to these stories. Except in this case, Barb asked where the diapers were coming from. And she showed up, years later, to give them back.

“You saved my son,” she told us. “Now I want to help you.”

Since that time, Barb speaks at events, hauls diapers, and has her now teenaged children volunteer.

But this past Friday night, Barb had a different announcement for the crowd at Dancing with Our Stars:

I recently moved to Flagstaff. And I am now working with the Food Bank there to build a Diaper Bank in Flagstaff.

Dimitri and I are always excited to hear about the birth of another Diaper Bank. And we are even more excited when those Diaper Banks use the collaborative, engaged model we used to build both Diaper Banks here in Arizona.

But to know that this Diaper Bank will be started by someone who received diapers herself – and that that is why she is doing this – well, it makes the two of us happier than anything we could hear.

So that’s our story. It was a GREAT weekend, and a great example of what is possible.

Photo credit: Dimitri
(Baby artwork drawn in chalk in parking lot at the Diaper Dump!)

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