CENTERVILLE, Ohio — With the chill of fall comes the busiest time of year for Deanna Murphy and her staff and volunteers at Hannah’s Treasure Chest.
The nonprofit creates care packages filled with toys, clothes, hygiene products, and whatever else a family of young children may overlook as they cope with the high costs of food, housing, transportation and other necessities, much of which have only grown more and more expensive as 2022 has worn on.
Now as staff and volunteers begin fulfilling requests for the holiday season, Murphy said the economic impact is playing out through their increasing volume of requests.
“This year we’ve seen, I think about a 65% increase in requests from families, largely we think because of the strain on their budgets,” she said.
Murphy said it’s been a pattern for most of the year, with many of their partner organizations referring families who are requesting assistance for the first time.
“Families are strapped. They’re trying to make ends meet,” she said. “They’re worried about not having enough at the end of the year.”
The largest surge in requests typically starts in October. Not only are families trying to make room in their budgets for the holidays, but many need warm clothes, especially if their children quickly grew out of their last set.
Hannah’s Treasure Chest offers toys, clothing and hygiene items for families in need. (Spectrum News 1/ Michelle Alfini)
Hannah’s Treasure Chest serves children up to age 18, but only stores and supplies clothing in child sizes.
“They grow so fast at that age,” Murphy said. “Not only do we want to give them clothes that fit, but we want to make sure we’re giving them full outfits things that they can immediately feel confident in the world in.”
Unfortunately, the nonprofit can only give the clothes it has. With winter clothes out of storage, Murphy said some of their long sleeve and accessory stocks are running low or out in a few sizes.
“We’re serving thousands of children and there aren’t thousands of hats here but there are hundreds, so we do the best we can,” she said.
Murphy prepares an order of diapers for a client’s family. (Spectrum News 1/ Michelle Alfini)
Another one of the biggest needs Hannah’s Treasure Chest is working to provide are diapers. Each family can get 150 per toddler or infant.
“For our families, they’re one of the most expensive parts of raising a child,” Murphy said.
The cost is rising too, both for families and the nonprofit, which purchases a majority of its diapers through donations and grant funds. According to NielsenIQ, the nationwide price of diapers has gone up nearly 22% since 2018.
“Diapers are a need,” Murphy said. “For many daycares, you can’t leave your child if you don’t have enough diapers, and if you can’t get child care, you can’t work, and then how are you supposed to afford diapers?”
As their Dec. 16 deadline for building and distributing their care packages approaches, Murphy is confident Hannah’s will be able to fulfill the orders, but she said it will take a lot of care, volunteer hours, and donations to ensure, even if they can’t supply everything on their list, every child can get what they need.
“It takes a lot of people to get that done,” she said. “Then the family doesn’t have to worry about that. So then they can feel safe to pay for their housing and their education and their transportation and their child care.”
