Updated June 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM EDT
For Colleen Teixeira Moffat, volunteerism has always been important, but with a growing family — she was pregnant with her third child — finding the time was getting harder and harder. Then she found the Greater D.C. Diaper Bank.
This volunteer work made sense for her.
According to the National Diaper Bank Network, nearly half of families in America reported not having the diapers they need.
"It's such an unbelievably basic need," Teixeira Moffat says. "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."
Now, she is what they call a "warehouse warrior," a volunteer coordinator charged with assembling a dozen or so people around long tables who count and organize diapers.
We visited her during a recent volunteer shift in Silver Spring, Md. The warehouse was stacked floor to ceiling with packed diapers waiting to be delivered to service organizations that already serve families in need. There's even a small play area for families who've brought small children.
"At the end of it, you have just like a nice sense of accomplishment," Teixeira Moffat says. "We [packaged] 2,000 diapers and it's always like a nice, cathartic, big number."
Teixeira Moffat has even brought her three children to help with diaper bundling — to show them that giving back is important and that they can make a difference at a young age.
"And I think now they're old enough to have a sense of the fact that they are lucky to have everything they need," she says. "And to know that not everybody has that."
Teixeira Moffat says even though the work is important and necessary, that is not why she comes back every month. She says the volunteer work grounds her.
"When things feel a little chaotic and out of control globally, in my own life — I always feel good when [I leave here], 100% of the time."
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