Of the people who regularly visit Sweet Cheeks Diaper Pantry at First Presbyterian Church in Seymour, an estimated 60% need translation.
Spanish, Chuj, French Creole and French are among the languages spoken by people who have visited the pantry since it opened in September 2022.
Fortunately, volunteers have stepped up to translate to ensure people get the diapers or Pull-Ups and wipes they need for their child.
Translation is one of the things organizers didn’t anticipate needing on a regular basis but have added to ensure a community need is met.
The pantry also has created a kids corner and pantry pointers, developed a partnership with a local agency and changed policies and procedures.
During the Sunday morning service at the church, pantry leaders gave a presentation on the diaper pantry and recognized the volunteers who make it happen.
That includes the eight local students who are helping with translation. They were celebrated with a pizza party and Kovener’s Korner gift cards as a token of appreciation, a sweet treat from Sweet Cheeks.
“They’ve just been stellar, just incredible,” said Jessica Olsen, one of the pantry leaders.
“At the end of the day, we want to be able to help you regardless of language,” she said. “When someone who does not speak English comes into this pantry, you can always see the sigh of relief on their face when they realize that they can speak to someone of their native language and that they know our information because they want our information, they want to go by the correct procedure and the policy.”
Having translators on hand creates a welcoming space for the clients, Olsen said.
“They talk about diaper products and formula in length, and they are always a step ahead of us, too,” she said of the translators. “They are predicting what we need. They know our policy. They know our procedures. A lot of the time, I’ll say, ‘Oh, please tell them that they can come to our pantry twice a month,’ and the translator will say, ‘Already done’ just because they’ve already translated that to them.”
Shane Fallis, a teacher at Seymour High School whose wife, Suzi, is one of the pantry leaders, played a big role in recruiting the translators. Last fall, he shared information during class about the pantry needing translators, and a few of them got involved shortly after.
That included Rudy Vicente, who will be a senior at SHS in the fall. He has helped since November 2022.
“I could actually use my Spanish speaking in practical use and just do something nice for others,” he said. “Especially coming from a background where my parents themselves are from Guatemala, I know it has been a struggle for them, but I know for some other people, they have it harder than us, so I kind of can relate to that in a sense.”
Classmate Rene Clemente started around the same time. He said he likes helping the community.
“My parents are from a Hispanic community. If my parents went out to someplace and they were in need of assistance with a language barrier, I would want someone else to help them,” he said. “With me being that sort of help for other parents, for other people, it makes me feel really good. Seeing people come in and say, ‘Oh, there’s diapers’ and not being able to communicate their need and me being able to help them, it makes me feel pretty good.”
Siblings Maria Viveros, Daniela Jimenez and Dylan Jimenez are other translators for the pantry.
Daniela started at the beginning of this year after learning of the need from Fallis.
“I was like, ‘Oh, well, I know how to speak Spanish, so I can help,’ and I like helping people in general, so I was like, ‘OK, this is a perfect opportunity to help,’” she said.
One day, Viveros tagged along with her sister and enjoyed the experience.
“I’ve been there before. My parents go through it all the time, and it’s always nice to know there’s somebody to help,” she said of translating. “You come in confused, you’re not sure, I’ve seen it firsthand with my parents. I wish that wherever they go, somebody is there to help them, and if they can, they do get help.”
The students have enjoyed their interactions with people at the pantry.
“Some of them come in, they are like, ‘Oh, it’s just such a nice help knowing that I can communicate my questions with you.’ They are really appreciative of it and the program in general,” Viveros said.
“They’ve all been super nice, and they’ve all been really appreciative that I’m there. Every time before they leave, they are like, ‘Oh, thank you for helping,’” Daniela said. “It makes me feel good about myself.”
Vicente said it’s nice knowing he has done something to help them.
“It’s good working for an organization that’s actively helping them, especially with how expensive diapers are, so I think it’s very good to help other people,” he said.
“I would say I personally feel I’m excited to help, and I just enjoy doing it,” Clemente added. “I enjoy translating and using my skills to help other people. It just makes me feel even better.”
With the kids corner, Olsen said youth at the church have taken a very active role in it, including conducting a bake sale to raise money to stock it with stuffed animals and books.
“It started as merely my children needed to clean out their stuffed animal cabinet, and I said, ‘Let’s just take the ones into the pantry and see if anybody would like a stuffed animal,’” Olsen said. “Then it just grew from there to where other people donated stuffed animals from the church. We had some retired schoolteachers who are members of the church donate Scholastic books that the kiddos can take home.”
She said it has been great to see kids come to the pantry with their parents and smile as they pick out a stuffed animal or a book to take home.
“To have our youth play a vital role in that has shown them an aspect of service that maybe diapers and wipes might be over their head, they don’t realize what those cost and how many you need, but they know the love that comes from a stuffed animal,” Olsen said. “That has been really cool to see with our youth.”
Pantry pointers were added as an educational piece to the pantry.
For the first quarter, Dr. Courtney Glos, a pediatrician at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, answered questions and offered advice, and that was printed on a flyer to hand out to parents. It also was translated into Spanish.
For the second quarter, preschool readiness buckets were created by Olsen and Suzi Fallis, offering a checklist of different assessments parents could perform with their child to ensure he or she is ready to enter preschool.
The pantry also developed a partnership with Child Care Network, where children enrolled in that agency’s day care can receive bundles of diapers from Sweet Cheeks. One night, an event was conducted that allowed parents to sign up to receive them.
“That way, not only are the day care workers provided guaranteed diapers, but parents know that those are going and they don’t need to buy as many from the store,” Olsen said.
Changes in policies and procedures occurred due to the number of people visiting the pantry.
Before opening Sweet Cheeks, Olsen visited diaper pantries in Indianapolis and Charlestown to get an idea of how they operate, and she was told they serve 30 to 60 clients per month. The first month, however, Sweet Cheeks served 245.
To date, 520 children have been registered with the pantry, and 125,000 diapers and Pull-Ups have been given out.
As a result, the annual budget went from an expected $15,000 to right under $40,000, Olsen said.
Fortunately, Sweet Cheeks has a partnership with Indiana Diaper Bank of Indianapolis to obtain the most cost-effective diapers possible. Sizes that aren’t available through that agency are bought through Walmart, and all wipes come from Sam’s Club.
If people want to donate to the pantry, Olsen said it’s preferred to do that monetarily online at firstpresbyterianseymour.church/sweet-cheeks-diaper-pantry or by mailing a check to First Presbyterian Church, 301 N. Walnut St., Seymour, IN 47274 or dropping it off at the church. In the memo line on the check, put “Diaper pantry.”
Olsen also has applied for some grants and continues to make presentations in the community in hopes of obtaining funds to keep the diaper pantry in operation.
“What has impressed me the most is we are truly serving people who need this,” she said. “We were hoping that this was a need in the community that we could serve, but I think we have found the greatness of the need and the severity of it, as well.”
At a glance
Sweet Cheeks Diaper Pantry is inside First Presbyterian Church, 301 N. Walnut St., Seymour.
Hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, noon to 3 p.m. Mondays and 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays.
Available sizes include diapers preemie to 7 and Pull-Ups 2T to 5T. Wipes are included.
Children must be 4 years old or younger. A parent or legal guardian must register children and show birth identification (birth certificate, medical document or passport) for all children. During every pantry visit, a parent or guardian must show a picture ID and proof of Jackson County residency. Up to two visits per month are allowed.
For information, call 812-522-5909 or visit firstpresbyterianseymour.church/sweet-cheeks-diaper-pantry or facebook.com/sweetcheeksofFPC.