For one volunteer, helping get the basics out to new parents is an endorphin rush.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All right, it’s time for the latest installment in our series Here to Help that looks at service and community in America. Today, we go to Silver Spring, Maryland, where a group of volunteers are working to help new parents with a basic need – diapers.
COLLEEN TEIXEIRA MOFFAT: So we are at the warehouse for the Greater D.C. Diaper Bank, and I am leading a volunteer session of people from our community who have volunteered to help bundle diapers to be distributed throughout the community for families who are in need of diapers.
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TEIXEIRA MOFFAT: I’m Colleen Teixeira Moffat, and I am – today I’m a warehouse warrior with the Greater D.C. Diaper Bank.
We are unpackaging the diapers and putting them into the sets of 25 so that they can be distributed to our community partners and then to the families who need them. It’s one of my favorite volunteer activities I’ve ever done, in part because it’s just, like, at the end of it, what we’ll do is we will count up all of the diapers that we have, and we will tally up, like, how many diapers that is. And it’s just, like, the end of it, you have just, like, a nice sense of accomplishment. Like, we did 2,000 diapers. And it’s always, like, a nice cathartic, big number.
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TEIXEIRA MOFFAT: I mean, it’s such an unbelievably basic need, and if families have the things that they need, it can help them feel less stressed and provide a little bit more stability into their day-to-day lives. It’s such a fundamental, basic need. I can’t imagine how it must feel to not have those needs on a day-to-day basis met. And then, I mean, also, like, the other reason I personally come is that when things feel a little chaotic and out of control globally, in my own life, like, it – I always feel good when I’ve left, 100% of the time.
You’re going to deliver those? OK, make sure they get tallied. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: OK.
TEIXEIRA MOFFAT: One of the things that’s great about this particular volunteer opportunity is, like, it’s so tangible. It’s also very physical, so, like, you’re moving around. You can understand it. You’re with other people who care, who want to help. And so there’s that kind of, like, sense of community. And it’s also just very – I don’t know – like, it’s not controversial, right? Like, we’re helping babies. Like, what could be simpler than that?
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TEIXEIRA MOFFAT: As you can see, I’m already on, like, a – I’m on an endorphin high (laughter).
CHANG: And here’s where we ask for your help. Tell us a story of volunteer service from your own life, or suggest someone for us to interview. Go to npr.org and search Here to Help.
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