How this Iowa girl is making a difference with diapers

by Lindsey Klyn, Marketing Specialist at Kinetic Edge Physical Therapy

A month ago, the name Harvey was on everyone’s radar. Harvey dumped 27 trillion gallons of rain in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana over the course of six days. This catastrophic flood disaster displaced thousands of Americans from their homes and caused an estimated 450,000 victims to ask for disaster assistance. As this news unfolded, Iowa resident and former Texas native Kayla Landhuis knew she needed to do something to help.

“Most of my life was spent around Dallas, but I lived outside of Houston, for 3 years,” said Landhuis. “My parents, who are still in Dallas, had friends from Houston evacuate to their house. This family literally lost everything.”

Landhuis shared that this was the first time she knew someone personally that was impacted in such an extreme way, which really shook her. She knew she could do something to help too, even all the way from Iowa.

Through Texan friends on social media, Landhuis became aware of the desperate need for diapers, so she posted on her social media and emailed the Kinetic Edge team that she was collecting diapers and wipes to send to Baby Booties Diaper Bank in Texas.

“In a normal year, Baby Booties provides diapers for over 3,000 babies in North Texas,” shared Landhuis. “Baby Booties sent out 63,300 diapers within a seven-day period after Harvey hit Texas. Since they are a small diaper bank, they completely ran out of several sizes.”

So far, Landhuis has collected 1,512 disposable diapers, 552 wipes, and 39 cloth diapers. This donation will allow Baby Booties to restock their shelves and continue to provide support to areas devastated by Harvey. Diaper banks in North Texas, such as this one, are anticipating an increase in need of their services dues to refugees staying in the area.

Landhuis currently resides in Roland, Iowa and works as the Customer Care Coordinator for Kinetic Edge Physical Therapy. After living through Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, Landhuis understood better than most Iowans the impact Harvey would have on people’s lives.

“It’s been kind of surreal watching all the footage of the storm and flooding, especially of places I went as a kid!” commented Landhuis. “I think I’m fortunate to live in an age when we’re all so connected. It was easy for me to check in on friends and make sure everyone was okay.”

The need in Texas is still great! If you feel compelled to make a difference as well, please consider these ways to help:

• Donate diapers, wipes, or money to Baby Booties Diaper Bank. (https://www.babybootiesdiaperbank.org/)
• Donate money to the Red Cross relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey. (http://www.redcross.org/…/gulf-coast/disaster-response)
• Pray for the people who lost their homes, businesses, and other possessions to Harvey.
• Donate money to the Houston Food Bank. (http://houstonfoodbank.org)
• Donate money to World Renew’s Disaster Response Services for Hurricane Harvey. (https://worldrenew.net/harvey-irma)

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