City Dads Group recently pitched in to bolster a campaign to add changing tables to public bathrooms in central Ohio.
Our Cincinnati and Columbus chapters held successful diaper drives this month in support of “Dadvocate for Change,” an effort by two Columbus area parenting podcasters and a local fatherhood community group.
The hosts of The Dadass Podcast and CBUS Dads announced the campaign earlier this year. Their goal: adding changing tables to men’s and general-neutral bathrooms in the Columbus area. These additions would give caregivers, especially male ones, a clean, safe and comfortable place to change a baby’s diaper.
Pluie, makers of a self-sanitizing changing table for public bathrooms, is a major partner in the campaign. They installed the first Dadvocate for Change table at the North High Brewing brewpub in Dublin, Ohio, this month.
Our groups’ contributions were among more than 3,200 diapers and 720 wipes collected to kickoff the campaign, according to the Dadass Podcast website. It estimated that more than 125 families would be helped by the donation made to a local diaper bank.
Podcasters Matt Lofy and Shaun Ditty contacted our Cincinnati and Columbus groups this spring seeking help with the Dadvocate for Change launch. In response, Cincinnati Dads co-organizer Brock Lusch hosted a meetup/drive for his dads at a local brewery on May 7; Columbus Dads co-organizer Aaron Sheldon hosted one at a local doughnut shop and nearby playground the next weekend. The two leaders represented City Dads the campaign’s main event on May 14.
A history of helping keep babies clean, dry
The battle for equal access to changing tables is a familiar one for City Dads Group.
NYC and City Dads Group garnered attention for the cause in 2016. An Upworthy video interview of co-founder Lance Somerfeld on the subject, showing him needing to change his daughter’s diaper on a park bench, went viral.
In 2019, City Dads assisted diaper maker Pampers meeting a commitment to install 5,000 changing tables in men’s restrooms throughout the United States and Canada. City Dads members and followers nominated businesses and public spaces in need of changing tables.
City Dads has also worked to raise awareness of U.S. families struggling to have enough diapers and baby wipes for their children. That 2017 campaign was in coordination with the National Diaper Bank Network and its founding sponsor, Huggies diapers.
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