Portugues Diaper Bank - urgent need!

There are 95 families needing extra support (for 1 week) in diapers, an essential commodity to stay dry, clean and safe. 1 week is not enough, but it makes all the difference!

Since the beginning of the year, the Diaper Bank has supported 88 families.

In this month of April we have 102 families to support, but we need to buy diapers / incontinence patches for 95, since we do not have stock for the sizes that have requested us. It is these 95 people who need this basic necessities that motivated this urgent campaign.

This is a project designed essentially to allow access to incontinence absorption materials for people / families with economic deficiencies in Portugal.

It consists of a logic of social emergency supplementation, which assists in balancing the family budget, protects the health of those who use diapers daily, without generating the dependency of the support, since we donate diapers equivalent to the estimated average use of 1 week.

The diapers are donated to families through the social and health institutions that accompany them through the creation of partnerships. We do not have direct contact with the families, since the articulation is carried out only with the institutions.

Institutions to benefit from our donations need to become members of the Membership Program, following: (1) registration; (2) sending of institutional documentation; (3) presentation / integration meeting and (4) signature of the membership agreement. The institution starts to refer to the need for diapers of its users through the link, to access a form.

Then, we start our part: (a) validation of the request; (b) order versus material stock verification; (c) repackaging of diapers; (d) communication to the referencing institution for the collection and (e) donation delivery with signature of declaration.

We comply with the General Regulation on Data Protection in relation to institutions, professionals and beneficiaries.

We strive to respond within a month to referrals, to reach as many families with the least waiting time as possible, given the emergency situation.

About the author

Created in 2010, the Passo Positivo (Positive Step) is an NGDO whose mission is to guarantee the safety and well-being of vulnerable or working people in crisis situations, filling the gaps in support in complementarity with other institutions, promoting the increase of their skills and impact on different generations for the exercise of global citizenship.

In the Banco de Fraldas project we conducted the donation and donation of diapers, as well as training actions on the proper use of the absorption material for incontinence.

In the Vizinhos project, awarded with the Missão Sorriso 2011 award, we intervene to train people with functional disabilities to promote well-being and manage their home environment safely and reduce the risk of domestic accidents (higher prevalence - falls). Through housing visits to these people, allocation of technical aids and actions of training / education for health to users and technicians of support institutions.

One strand of this project is Casa Senior, an honorable mention for the 2018 BPI Sénior Award. An educational and interactive website for the promotion of housing security aimed at seniors and their formal and informal caregivers.

The Humanitus project, in an academic partnership with the Fernando Pessoa University, is divided into two axes: (1) training for the exercise of a global citizenship in a school and work context; (2) promotion of the mental health of volunteers and humanitarian professionals with the capacity to develop personal, social and professional skills.

In addition to the three main projects, we have developed an internal Volunteer Program and collaborated in the main activities of the Rede Social de Matosinhos (Social Matodinhos Network), where we have been included.

The team consists of:

• Full time (professional internship) - 1 - Superior social education technique that energizes projects
• Part-time (provision of services): 1 General Coordination; 1 Senior Project Nurse; 2 Collaborators in the Communication and Image department.
• Our NGDO privileges professional volunteering. For what it currently hosts: 5 members of the Board; 2 full-time volunteers - general coordination and accounting; 1 volunteer part-time - Diaper Bank project; 3 part-time volunteers - operational and fund-raising support; remaining volunteers with occasional support at events throughout the year

Budget and due dates

Given the urgency of the delivery of diapers is scheduled for May.

So the campaign should end on May 20, maximum.

The following week we will do the acquisition and disintegration of diapers.

Taking into account that the average value of the diapers is around € 0.25, the budget includes additional support for the 95 families planned.

Images

Documents

• apresentacao_do_banco_de_fraldas_2019.pdf

  pdf • 547.93 KB