29 Nardin Today Fall 2022 alumni spotlight Please discuss your life after Nardin. RH: After Nardin, I attended college and sought out a path. At the time, I didn’t complete my education and worked several jobs in Corporate America. I wasn’t happy with the 9-5 world and knew I was supposed to be doing something more with my life. I couldn’t find the joy that I sought. I knew I wanted to do something that created a level of hope and added value to the world. What was the origin of starting your non-profit Every Bottom Covered? RH: In my quest to find myself, my life took many twists and turns. I became a single mother and struggled to care for my son alone. As I had to access the low-income services throughout the city, I realized that there was nowhere that a parent could obtain diapers and wipes. I went back to college after my son was born and learned about a diaper bank in Southern Arizona. I began doing independent research on diaper need, and discovered that there was no resource available locally, and that led to the birth of Every Bottom Covered, Inc. Did anything in your experience at Nardin help prepare you or inform you starting your own non-profit? RH: Nardin equipped me with access to diversity, learning from others whom I may not have crossed paths with otherwise. Having come from an urban upbringing, often what seemed “normal” culturally has come from a space of learning to adjust to inequities and make the best of life. What would you tell current Nardin students about starting Every Bottom Covered? RH: I would tell current Nardin students to follow their dreams, and it is not impossible to see a need and fill that need. Everyone can do their part to make a positive impact on the world and work outside of us to see the beauty in others. We can create a healthier world, one person at a time. Tell us more about Every Bottom Covered. RH: Every Bottom Covered is the first and only diaper bank located in and serving families across Western New York. The organization started in my living room in 2016, and we were blessed to partner with Delavan Grider Community Center in May of 2017, where we saw an immediate interest in our services. Since our partnership started, we have distributed over one million diapers and pull-ups as well as wipes. We’ve expanded into Allegany and Chautauqua counties, where we have helped over 400 families with 400,000 diapers and pull-ups. Presently, our organization provides 50 diapers or 25 pull-ups and wipes for every child in an underserved household up to the 3rd birthday on a monthly basis. Our current needs: volunteers to work in the warehouse helping to organize supplies, wrap diapers and pull-ups; volunteers to attend community pop-up events and help distribute supplies; volunteers to pack orders being shipped to our partner organizations across counties of Western New York; financial support to continue purchasing supplies and maintaining operations. n
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