State launches new program providing free diapers to new parents

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) - Ahead of Mother’s Day, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state is launching a program to provide free diapers for all new babies born in California. The state is partnering with national nonprofit Baby2Baby, and it’s the first program in the nation to do so. Starting this summer. every newborn delivered in participating hospitals will received 400 free diapers.

One local mother, Sarah Lopez, says she spends around $720 on diapers a year.

"It would have helped a lot," Lopez says about the new program providing free diapers.

She says their biggest expense is food, totaling at around $1000 a month. "We don't like processed foods, especially for her. We want her to grow strong and healthy. So because of, you know, everything that we buy, natural and organic, it's very expensive," says Lopez.

According to a recent study by Lendingtree, California is the fourth most expensive state to raise a child.Lopez says she gets some items secondhand, like her daughter's toy kitchen, to help cut expenses.

"If everything was new, it's probably something that we wouldn't be able to afford because of just how expensive everything is," she says.

Lopez also donates items her daughter grows out of to the Refuge Pregnancy Center in Indio. Once a month, they giveaway baby items for free. The next baby item giveaway is June 6th from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

The Refuge Pregnancy Center is located at 81557 Dr Carreon Blvd B5, Indio, CA 92201.