Schools

Middle Schoolers Take On 'Diaper Duty' to Help Underprivileged

An ongoing service project has eighth graders making cloth diapers and sending them to countries where babies don't have them.

At this moment, thousands of babies around the world are wearing T-shirts that came from Apple Valley.

They’re just wearing them on the opposite end of their bodies.

For the past five years, eighth graders at Falcon Ridge Middle School have spent study time each week turning old T-shirts into thousands of cloth diapers for people in countries where diapers are in short supply, yet remain a much-needed commodity.

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Family and consumer science teacher Luana Bierlein has spearheaded the diapers community service project at Falcon Ridge for its duration. She and the students take T-shirt donations throughout the year, vetting them for usability then using Bierlein’s classroom tools to cut, pin, sew and trim them into the appropriate diaper pattern.

“They just are good-hearted,” Bierlein said of the 30some students who help out on any given day. “They love knowing that they’re helping somebody.”

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It also doesn’t hurt that the kids get to socialize while they work, and beef up their FACS skills.

“It fits in perfectly at this age,” Bierlein said.

Locally, the idea stemmed from the church community; at Bierlein’s church, Prince of Peace Lutheran in Burnsville, church members also make cloth diapers and deliver them to countries like Haiti, Honduras, Tanzania and even post-tsunami Japan. The members who travel also teach the recipients how to fasten and wash the diapers.

“There definitely is a need,” Bierlein said.

And with those volunteers go the student-made diapers. Students completed 1,024 of them last school year, using two study hall periods per week. As of last week Wednesday, they were up to 950 completed diapers for the 2011-12 year.

Eighth grader Sophia Weber said making the diapers is a valuable way to do community service.

“It seems like such a small thing,” Weber said. “You don’t really think about it.”

Even T-shirts too small to become diapers (larger shirts are best) help the community—the school’s custodians can use them as rags and don't need to buy others, Bierlein said.

For the project to continue beyond this school year, however, it will need a new person point person, since Bierlein will retire this spring; she said she hopes it can continue, as parents and other community groups are now in the habit of sending in their T-shirts.

"The community is just used to this now," she said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here