Teen delivers aid to young mothers with diaper drive
<p>Lake Pend Oreille High School senior Sarah Burrough, left, is initiating a diaper drive to assist young parents and will receive help in her efforts from her sister, Brianna Abey. (Photo by CAMERON RASMUSSON)</p>
SANDPOINT — While all parents have a tough job description, young mothers and fathers particularly have the odds stacked against them.
However, one Bonner County resident wants to make them a little less overwhelming. Lake Pend Oreille High School graduating senior Sarah Burrough is organizing a diaper drive to help unwed mothers access diapers, formula, clothes and food for their child.
“We have a lot of young parents (at my school) who struggle caring for their family, and I want to help them out,” Burrough said.
At Lake Pend Oreille High School, all seniors need to finish one project before they can graduate. The parameters for this project are fairly broad, and having observed the difficulties of being a teen parent, Burrough decided to make them the focus of hers. She based this decision on her research, which indicated that Idaho was thirteenth in teen pregnancy rates and that 60 girls age 15 to 19 would become pregnant in Bonner County alone.
Burrough will partner with the Bonner Community Food Center to accomplish her goal. After contacting the organization with her idea, Burrough learned that baby supplies are at a premium there.
“The are just hoards of people asking for diapers and formula and things like that,” she said.
Based on that information, Burrough wants to bolster the food bank’s supply by collecting as many infant care items as possible.
The project begins in earnest this October, and Burrough will need some help from the community to do the most good. She and a several volunteers plan to maintain a presence at supermarkets to collect baby supplies. Each Saturday and Sunday in October, Burrough and her volunteers will operate booths from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at various community supermarkets asking for donations. She has definite dates of Oct. 7 and Oct. 21 set for Walmart.
In addition, Burrough’s project will help educate teens about choices in contraceptives and other resources available at their disposal. Her ultimate goal is to reduce the impact of teen pregnancy in Bonner County.
“This isn’t about making teen parents feel bad about themselves,” she said. “This is about helping them out.”