Nova ScotiaLydia O’Regan collects diaper donations and delivers them to those in need. She was inspired to start a diaper bank in Halifax after donating to one in Toronto.Lydia O’Regan modelled the Halifax Diaper Bank after one in TorontoAnjuli Patil · CBC News · Posted: Sep 23, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoThe Halifax Diaper Bank accepts donations of unused diapers in all sizes, even from opened sleeves and boxes. (photodaria/Shutterstock)A Halifax woman is collecting and delivering unused diapers to help families in need.Lydia O’Regan said she was inspired to start the Halifax Diaper Bank after donating to one when she lived in Toronto.”No parent should ever have to choose between keeping their baby clean and comfortable or paying for other basic necessities. No parent should have to stress about stretching the last few diapers to payday,” O’Regan wrote in a post on social media.”The bank is my way of saying: you don’t have to carry this burden on your own.”O’Regan told CBC’s Mainstreet in an interview Monday that when she moved back to Halifax from Toronto this year, she was looking for a place to donate diapers her two-year-old son had outgrown. But she found many food banks and community resource centres would only accept diapers still in unopened sleeves or boxes. “And I thought, well, that’s crazy. And if it’s that hard to donate them, how about if you need diapers urgently? What if you need support? How easy is that? Well, it’s not easy at all really,” O’Regan said.Her research revealed those in need faced a variety of obstacles. Some food banks required people to register or visit at a specific appointment time or during particular drop-in hours, which made accessing help difficult for people with transportation barriers.”And I thought, this is just too difficult on both sides. I’m going to make it easier.”O’Regan, who has a car and space in her apartment to store donated diapers, said the response so far to her initiative has been positive.Her goal is to accumulate every size of every diaper from every major brand. While she’s not quite there yet, she said she’s close.”We can always work something out with someone if they’re looking for a size that I don’t have or a brand that I don’t have. But the stock is growing day by day,” she said, adding that she had already done three pickups and four drop-offs on Monday.”I’m trying to get the wipes and the cream up as well so that’s something I can offer to everybody. Those things do have to be new, for sure.”O’Regan said it’s very common for families to have extra diapers around that their child can no longer wear.”Babies, especially in those first six months, are growing so fast. You buy a big box or you go to a baby shower and you just get flooded with these boxes of diapers and you can’t really use them all up and then they just sit in your house,” she said.Volunteers helpingShe estimated 90 per cent of her supplies have come from parents with open boxes and open sleeves of leftovers they were simply wanting to get rid of.Since starting the diaper bank earlier this month, O’Regan said she now has some volunteers helping out by making deliveries or hosting drop-off sites in their homes.”I’m driving a lot. So gas cards are always welcomed as well for a donation. But I mean, that’s what it takes to get it up off the ground. And I’m hoping once I get more volunteers and more [donation drop-off sites], that’ll alleviate some of that pressure. But the need is there and it’s extremely busy.”‘It’s all worth it’Despite the extra driving and the countless stacks of diapers in her home, O’Regan said it’s well worth her time — especially as she meets mothers who are stressed out and worried.”They’ve been so appreciative … It’s all worth it because I know that I’m making a really true difference in the lives of these families and their babies,” she said.Mainstreet NSLydia O’Regan tells Alex Guye about the Halifax Diaper Bank. Just don’t ask Alex to check the deposits.Find the Halifax Diaper Bank on facebook.With files from Mainstreet Halifax
Halifax mom opens diaper bank for families in need
