Diapers for the D – Notre Dame

Notre Dame senior honored by Detroit’s City Council for helping to provide a critical need for impoverished Detroiters.

Notre Dame senior Anjali Reddy is with her "Spirit of Detroit" proclamation in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue.

When Notre Dame senior Anjali Reddy and four of her friends first wanted to volunteer in 2015 to help better the lives of Detroiters, they thought they’d probably get involved with feeding the hungry and finding housing for the homeless among many other needs.

What they found out almost immediately was that there was still another crucial need in the city: diapers.

They discovered that with nearly 40 percent of Detroit families living below the poverty line, there were approximately 70,000 babies in the city whose families could not afford diapers, which by most estimates can cost about $80 per month for each baby.

So the five girls — Reddy from NDP and Courtney Weaver, Natasha Vasan, Julianna Aikens and Veronika Ahlborn, all students at Cranbrook — teamed up with the Detroit Police Department and the Mike Morse Law Firm to create “Diapers for the D,” a fundraising organization to supply diapers to those families in need.

“When I first joined Diapers for the D, I never really thought about the expense of diapers and how crucial they are for a baby to be healthy and happy,” said Reddy, who also is an avid photographer and a four-year varsity player on the Irish tennis squad. “Once I realized how much of an impact they actually do make, I wanted to spread awareness of diaper needs and how to better the lives of babies in Detroit.”

Reddy, center, her team and the Detroit Police Department work together on a city-wide diaper drive, also partnering with Development Centers in Detroit.

Reddy and her four friends started Diapers for the D in the summer of 2015 and during that first year, 55,000 diapers were collected and $2,500 raised. Every one of the diapers were distributed to the families in need through an affiliation with Early Head Start programs. In 2016, they collected 100,000 diapers and their goal this year is to collect 200,000 diapers.

Every year in September, during the nationwide Diaper Need Awareness Week, Reddy and her team run diaper drives and events to collect diapers. Their culminating event is a city-wide diaper drive, partnering with Development Centers in Detroit and the Detroit Police Department.

On October 10, the Detroit City Council recognized the work done by these five girls for the community of Detroit and awarded them the "Spirit of Detroit" awards, which were handed out during a session of the city council.

More details can be found about their organization on their website: www.diapersforthed.com, and donations can be made through their Facebook page: facebook.com/diapersforthed.

Reddy and the four other girls who worked with her on the Diapers for the D campaign receive the Spirit of Detroit award from the Detroit City Council on October 10.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.

Follow Notre Dame on Twitter at @NDPMA.

About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.