User:Bnrulz/Baby Buggy

Baby Buggy is a New York City-based non-profit organization that provides essential gear, clothing, products and services for families in need throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

Baby Buggy’s History
Baby Buggy was founded in May of 2001 by Jessica Seinfeld after the birth of her first child. With a motto of “Love Recycled,” the organization started as a mechanism for getting gently used products into the hands of newborns and new moms in need. The demand for Baby Buggy’s donations was both great and immediate, and the organization reached out to corporations such as Children’s Place, Johnson & Johnson and Pampers to help meet the needs of greater numbers of families. In total, Baby Buggy has donated over 4 million items to hundreds of thousands of families in need in the past eight years.

Who are the recipients of Baby Buggy donations?
Baby Buggy works with a network of over 50 Community Based Organizations (CBO's) and City agencies to distribute its goods including: organizations working with victims of domestic violence like Safe Horizon and New York Asian Women’s Center; the New York City Department of Homelessness Services; multi-service sites like Single Stop East Harlem and Lenox Hill Neighborhood House; prenatal units at hospitals like Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center and Harlem Hospital Center; immigrant and refugee-serving organizations like the International Rescue Committee; and parenting programs such as the nationally-recognized Nurse-Family Partnership program and Harlem Children's Zone. In addition, Baby Buggy has created two Family Resource Centers at Little Sisters of the Assumption in East Harlem and St. Anthony’s Head Start in the Bronx. CBO's must apply to become a Baby Buggy member site on an annual basis and, once accepted, member sites must submit regular reports to the organization.

How does Baby Buggy work?
Baby Buggy can pick up items directly from individual donors’ homes for a fee, or donors may bring their gently-used items to Baby Buggy’s warehouse. Donations from corporations are shipped directly to Baby Buggy’s warehouse. During the work week, donations are sorted, organized, assembled, patched and prepared for donation by the organization’s program staff and volunteers. Donations are then distributed across the list of Baby Buggy’s member sites based on monthly request forms that each CBO has submitted on behalf of their families. This regular contact with its CBO sites allows Baby Buggy to make sure that it has an adequate supply of the specific types of donations that families need.

What does Baby Buggy collect?
Baby Buggy seeks donations of gently used and new items for infants and young children. Items sought include clothing, strollers, high chairs, infant tubs, bouncers, books, bassinets, safety gates, toys, swings, monitors, carriers, videos, sheets, towels, shoes, bibs, and outerwear.

In addition, Baby Buggy provides new cribs to moms in need through several public hospitals. Crib recipients participate in a safe sleep training session with a hospital nurse or social worker. This program, called Project Safe Sleep, was launched by Baby Buggy after city officials reported a drastic rise in infant rollover deaths in New York City.

Who supports Baby Buggy?
About $2 Million of Baby Buggy’s budget is made up of in-kind product donations from individuals and corporations like Aveeno Baby, The Children's Place, Haddad Brands Clothing, and Pampers. Financial support for the organization comes through its Board of Directors, the Friends of Baby Buggy group, other private individuals, corporations like Credit Suisse and Target Corporation, and foundations like the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Jay and Kelly Sugarman Foundation.

How does Baby Buggy aim to make an impact?
As affordable housing remains difficult to find in New York City, many parents struggle to provide the basics for their children. Due to the recent downturn in the economy, coupled with rising food prices, even more families are likely to fall below the poverty line in the coming months. As of 2007, over 500,000 children under the age of five live in poverty in NYC.

By making its donations through a network of strong, effective CBO's like Harlem Children's Zone and Nurse-Family Partnership, Baby Buggy is assured that goods are getting into the hands of families in need. In addition, these investments help increase the use and effectiveness of the CBOs within their communities, providing incentives for new parents to participate in programs such as free parenting or child health clinics.