Human Service Chamber of Franklin County

Rachael: “I was working in an after-school program in Hilltop, and I had persistent burnout. It was hard work, and I was looking for a change. Then one day when I was driving home, I heard this NPR snippet about diaper need, and I had never even thought about it. We didn't have children at that time. We weren't even married. But I researched it, and there were no diaper banks in Columbus.”

Mikey: “We ended up going to Washington D.C. to visit a diaper bank and learned how they did it, and the lady who ran it was like, ‘Whatever you do, don't start a diaper bank.’

At first, we thought, ‘It's easy. It's just one product. It's diapers.’ But the more you dig in and learn about the issue, the more complicated it gets.

Government programs like the WIC Nutrition Program do not cover hygiene products, and the lack of funding around hygiene products as a whole means that the need will never go away, unless some miracle happens and hygiene products start to be funded federally. Diapers are as close to a necessity as you can get.”

Rachael: “When we had our children, the need became so much more real. You go through so many diapers, and it gets so irritating. There’s so much stress in worrying about always having enough on hand. And it just snowballs from there. You see them go to waste almost as soon as you change them. And sure, you have cloth diapers, but how many people have laundry on site? Detergent is expensive. Water bills just keep going up.

We are organizers. We work with other nonprofits and partner agencies to deliver the diapers, so we rarely interact with the people we serve. But I recently delivered diapers to one of our partners who works with immigrant and refugee families, and I was reminded that we serve people from all walks of life. It’s just so rewarding.”

Mikey: “Prices are higher. Incomes are down. We see people struggling right now, and there's just less support. But we just received a grant from Franklin County, and we are so grateful. It was like oxygen. We’ll be able to do this work for at least a few more years, and then after that, we hope to secure more funding and do this for as long as we can.”

- Rachael and Mikey Sorboro are the founders of Columbus Diaper Bank, providing diapers to Central Ohio families and advocating for dignity, health, and opportunity for every child.

Our sector is always looking for talented and passionate individuals to lead positive change in our community! Check out our jobs board to learn more about each position: https://www.humanservicechamber.org/jobs/

Every year, HSC brings together our nonprofit members to support the LGBTQIA+ community by marching together in the Stonewall Columbus Pride March.

This year, we have T-shirts, tank tops, and totes in various size and color options (including a youth size)! Check out our shop and show your support! Thank you to Jack Juris for the wonderful design for this year's Pride gear.

Shop now: https://www.bonfire.com/2026-pride-with-hsc/?productType=df77d740-7070-4980-89af-d45d78145754

Last week, our nonprofit members received an incredibly valuable resource:

111 cases of paper, totaling 550,000 sheets (that's more than 2.5 tons!)

Although smaller members received the most paper, this donation benefits organizations large and small! For us, paper may seem simple, but for nonprofits, it’s an essential resource and necessary expense for all kinds of uses – from client forms and educational materials to job applications and critical communications.

This effort wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration. Thank you to Victoria's Secret for the donation, and to IMPACT Community Action for providing the furniture and warehouse space to receive and distribute it.

This is what it looks like when our community shows up for one another.

As proud members of the Time to Care Ohio Coalition, we were thrilled to attend yesterday's announcement of a new, bipartisan paid family leave bill at the Ohio Senate. This legislation will ensure Ohio workers have access to 14 weeks of paid leave for parental, caregiving, and personal medical leave!

Did you know that 3 in 4 Ohioans do not have access to paid family leave? People should not have to choose between their paycheck and caring for themselves or others.

Thank you to co-sponsors and for their leadership!

Learn more about the bill and join the coalition at www.timetocareohio.org.

“I'm telling everyone that it's not time to rest, it's time to take advantage of the opportunity to do uninterrupted work.

This Administration has a greater long-term vision of chopping our democracy into pieces, and it just so happened that the first attack has been on the immigrant and refugee community. But this is not going to be their endpoint. This is about our democracy, not just about our neighbors being targeted because they just so happen to not have been born in the United States. This is far bigger than what TV might have you thinking.

Another thing to note is that while the Somali community was the most targeted in the news the past few months, it was still 90 percent of our Latino neighbors that were being detained during the ICE enforcement surge in central Ohio. It was a very targeted and focused increase in ICE activity to locate and deport our neighbors.

When the adults aren't able to go to work, they aren’t able to maintain their households. So in situations where we know that people are already struggling with housing insecurity and food insecurity, those challenges are exacerbated. And then we have the children that live in those households. When parents fear for their lives, their immediate thought is to fear for the lives of their children, so we have school districts that are reporting increased absences. We know that every single day counts at school, and not just because of the educational value, but the socialization that children get, the free warm food that they receive, and the fact that they get to actually be outside of the house and supervised while parents are at work. So there's so many hidden layers to this, and the trauma of not only seeing your own parents in fear, but also having to watch this unfold across the nation… that vicarious trauma moves through immigrant communities here in the United States, and we will feel it for generations to come.

In this moment of internalized terror, we are changing the fibers of our community.

But for those who think the economy is the only thing that matters, I’ll also say that the immigrant community in Central Ohio has been responsible for bringing many corridors back to life. They’ve been the reason our overall population has increased, and why we’re one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.

I'm just humbled that we get to play a small part in taking our democracy back, and we're joined by so many people in central Ohio that agree that our democracy is worth fighting for. Our Helpers serves at least 150 families every single week. And we do our due diligence to reach out to those families to make sure their situations haven't changed, to make sure that they are sheltering in their home for their safety.

But it can be scary. I remember talking to my sister in Florida, and she was telling me I should do a daily blog about what the work is looking like, and I said, ‘I don't know that I'm ready for my face to be connected to this work.’

I never imagined a day when leading a nonprofit organization in Central Ohio would be a hazardous occupation. One of my children asked me why I do this when this work has gotten so scary for everyone. And I said, ‘Because there's no way that any of us should be able to sleep without knowing that we were on the right side of this movement.’

So if anyone's looking for inspiration, it's just a mere reminder that this is not a moment. This is a movement, and if we aren't gonna get our butts up out of our chairs to take back our democracy, then none of us are going to have a leg to stand on when they start coming for each and every one of us, community by community, one by one.”

- Dr. Dorothy Hassan is the CEO of Our helpers, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of immigrant and refugee families in Central Ohio.