On June 1 2025, commonkind ran a Learn By Heart service learning session in aid of our charity partner The Nappy Collective to process nappy donations given by Queenslanders to benefit needy Australian families facing “nappy stress”.
TL;DR
- Nappy stress is when families don’t have enough nappies to change their children as frequently as they would like.
- Nappies are a large cost for a family and estimates show that almost 1 in 10 Australian families face nappy stress.
- The Nappy Collective is Australia’s only nonprofit that focuses solely on collecting nappies and distributing them to families in crisis.
- commonkind provides age-appropriate community service opportunities for children, young people and families interested in assisting communities suffering from poverty, disadvantage and distress.
The 2025 Nappy Sort & Count Event
commonkind hosted the 2024 Nappy Sort & Count Event on Sunday the 1st June 2025. This collaboration with one of commonkind’s charity partners, The Nappy Collective, was held at St. Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Ascot, Brisbane.
commonkind has selected The Nappy Collective as a charity partner because:
- The Nappy Collective’s mission matches commonkind’s focus on providing benevolent relief to people and communities suffering from poverty, disadvantage and distress and
- the impact of the event is strategically aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No Poverty) and 3 (Good Health and Well-being) – two of commonkind’s target SDGs.
WHAT is a Nappy Sort & Count?
This Nappy Sort & Count event was the culmination of the month-long “Clean Bums for Little Ones” run by The Nappy Collective. The Learn by Heart session, led by commonkind, and with volunteers from The Nappy Collective, twenty-eight Year 10 students and five educators from the school, provided the opportunity to come together to sort, count, pick and pack nappies donated by Queenslanders.
WHO are The Nappy Collective?
The Nappy Collective are one of commonkind’s charity partners. The Nappy Collective is the only Australian nonprofit that focuses solely on collecting nappies and distributing them to families in crisis. They are a community based, not for profit run mostly by volunteers committees across Australia. Their vision is that every child in Australia has nappies to allow them to remain clean, healthy and happy.
WHY sort, count and distribute nappies?
Many families in Australia are struggling to provide the nappies their children need to maintain basic hygiene
What is “nappy stress”?
Nappy stress occurs when families do not having enough nappies to change their children as often as they need to. With current cost of living pressures, often families have to make many difficult choices on a daily basis. With the cost of nappies being a large strain on a tight budget, sometimes families are left with little choice but to not change or reuse nappies on their little ones.
How much do nappies cost?
As babies need to be changed multiple times a day, disposable nappies can cost about $40-$50 per week per child or about $2,000 per child per year. Cloth nappies are a large up-front investment that many families cannot afford and also need laundering which may not be feasible for families also facing housing instability.
How many families does nappy stress impact?
The Nappy Collective’s research indicates that 1 in 10 Australian families, or 280,000 children, don’t have enough nappies to change their child as frequently as they need.
HOW do the nappies get to families facing nappy stress?
Two months before…
The Nappy Collective’s network of community partners such as social workers and other aid agencies place their requests for nappies (sizes and quantities).
One month before…
In the preceding month, generous Australians donated nappies at collection points across Australia.
One week before…
In the week prior to the sort & count event, The Nappy Collective volunteers collected all of the donated nappies from the collection points.
The big day! The Nappy Sort & Count event.
The Nappy Collective volunteers delivered all of the nappies to St. Margaret’s. commonkind educated the students about The Nappy Collective, nappy stress and poverty in Australia then we all got stuck in sorting into sizes, counting and packing the nappy donations.
After the event
The Nappy Collective’s network of community partners such as social workers collected or were brought their nappy orders so that they could provide them to Australian families facing nappy stress.
The result
Drumroll please… we are delighted to report that on the day we processed a mammoth 39,061 nappies for The Nappy Collective benefiting more than 1,300 families. An increase of almost 15,000 from 2024 and a Queensland record.
Thank you to our supporters
A big THANK YOU to all of the St. Margaret’s students and staff who gave their time on the day. We know there was a waiting list and we hope that next year we can provide even more of you with the opportunity to give back in a practical way.
To all of The Nappy Collective volunteers who gave up so much of their time not only on the day but in the weeks and months preceding and following the Sort & Count event to make it such a success – THANK YOU!
