Parents know how fast babies can go through diapers, and this week, a local business owner is holding a drive to collect diapers for families in need.

Elysia Douglas and her business, North Atlanta Concierge Doula Services, is hosting a diaper drive this week and is seeking either monetary donations or donations of diapers at local businesses for National Diaper Needs Awareness week, which will continue through Saturday, Sept. 28. Douglas said she began the annual drive five years ago, when she saw a struggling parent at North Fulton Community Charities in Roswell.

“I saw a father come in, get his groceries and he asked for some diapers for his baby,” Douglas said. “The volunteer came back with 10 diapers, and he asked her, ‘Can I get some more?’ and she tried to explain to them that they had to have enough diapers for everybody and that’s all we could give him.”

Douglas said she is a mother of four and three of her kids were in diapers at the same time, so she understands how difficult affording diapers can be for families.

“One in three families report having a diaper need, and that means they have trouble keeping up a sufficient supply of diapers for their baby,” she said. “If these families have to work, it puts an extra strain because not only do you need diapers at home, you also have to provide diapers for daycare. If they’re not able to do that, sometimes they miss work which can be detrimental to their income.”

After moving from Fulton County to Forsyth a few years ago, Douglas sought to team with a local organization for the diaper drive and decided on The Place of Forsyth County.

While the organizations do receive diaper donations, Douglas said they do not get equal donations across all sizes.

“They get donations of diapers, but people always tend to think about newborns and infants and what they really need are the bigger sizes, the 3, 4, 5, sometimes 6 because people don’t realize that toddlers are still in diapers too,” Douglas said. A lot of times, they will have the smaller sizes, but they really need the larger sizes of diapers.”

In Forsyth County, donations can be made anytime at Community Cup, at 125 Tribble Gap Road, Suite 103 in downtown Cumming or at Vickery Village, 5755 S. Vickery Street.

Donations can be made during Vickery’s ladies’ night out 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, farmers market 9 a.m.  to noon on Thursday and the artisan’s market from 6-8 p.m.

The Downtown Alpharetta Farmers Market, 2 Park Plaza, Alpharetta, will also accept donations on Saturday.

Monetary donations can be made at PayPal.me/NATLCDoulas.