Real Diaper Association: Issue 28, June 2009

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REAL DIAPER ASSOCIATION NEWS: Issue 28, June 2009

RDA Board of Directors Changes
Farewell to a Founder

We are saying farewell to one of the RDA founders this month. Angelique Mullen, who has been with RDA since early 2004 and has been the RDA Treasurer for the past four years, brought a passion for cloth diapers as well as experience in research and data analysis. She has just completed a Library and Information Science degree at San Jose State University. Angelique is a former school teacher, and she is leaving us in order to pursue a new career as a children's librarian.

Welcome to our new Treasurer

RDA Board members are very happy to welcome our new Treasurer, Angela Imes. Angela is a Certified Public Accountant, and she is already hard at work for RDA. She brings to her position experience in business accounting, nonprofit work, and a passion for cloth diapering her multiples. Angela is based in Plano, Texas.

Big Advocacy Shout Out!
San Diego Earth Week 2009

For the second year in a row, the San Diego Real Diaper Circle (SDRDC) hosted a booth at the San Diego EarthFair, the largest free annual environmental fair in the world. Each year, the EarthFair draws around 70,000 visitors.

We had a great location, right at the front of the Children’s Area, heavily trafficked and adjacent to other attractions for families, which obviously were our target demographic. The booth was redesigned this year by one of our volunteers and featured many pictures of our babies in cloth diapers, which were a big draw! It was staffed by 12 volunteers (and frequently their babies and other family members), who were busy talking with visitors most of the day. The costs of the booth were covered by a silent auction of donated items from several local and online cloth diapering businesses. The booth was a huge success, introducing cloth diapers to people of all ages. We loved especially hearing teens and young adults proclaiming their intent to use cloth when they have kids someday!

After such a great experience, the SDRDC is gearing up to host another booth at the Babytime Expo in June to get even more babies into cloth diapers!
San Diego Real Diaper Circle at Earth Fair
Interested in becoming a Real Diaper Circle Leader? Visit Real Diaper Circle Leader info to learn more.

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cloth diapers
to new parents.

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RDA will build
the movement
with your help.

Newest Real Diaper Circle Leader
Angela Domenichelli of Belfast, Maine

RDA is built on the assumption that local cloth diapering advocates can best determine solutions to local needs. We were thrilled to welcome our newest Real Diaper Circle Leader, Angela Domenichelli of Belfast, Maine.

Angela has an agreement with a local midwife to begin Circle meetings in her classroom and she is making connections with businesses in the area, both of which should help with outreach. She is enthusiastically cloth diapering her baby and is talking up cloth everywhere she goes (according to her references!).

Excerpts from Anglea's press release for her new circle show how RDA outreach can reach many families:

"The purpose of the Belfast Real Diaper Association circle group is to include as many families as possible who are using cloth diapers to share their experiences. How did each of us come to the decision to use cloth diapers? What has the experience been like? Does anyone have questions about nighttime diapering, washing routines or rashes? This will be a place to share all those experiences and build on them."

"The Real Diaper Association circle group can work together to raise awareness of cloth diapers in our local communities. Other Real Diaper Association groups across the country have advocated by talking to local doctors, parenting classes, daycare providers or radio shows. Some groups have held tabling events, started their own online groups or written local or national editorials."

"The Maternal Wellness Center, located at 111 High Street in Belfast, ME, was created in the winter of 2008 with the mission of creating a community centered, accessible and secure center for multiple uses associated with pregnancy, birth, women's wellness, parenting support and health and wellness for babies and children. For more information, contact the Maternal Wellness Center at 338-0708."

Real Diaper Association Mission

The Real Diaper Association is a collective non-profit organization in which parents and small businesses take the lead in creating a cultural shift to increase the use of simple, reusable cloth diapers. We connect current cloth diapering parents to the long history of cloth diapering. Cloth diapers are real diapers. The Association organizes local advocates and activists for cloth diapers through a member-supported resource center which plans campaigns, trains organizers, distributes educational information, supports local groups, and connects users to the U.S. Cloth Diaper industry. Local Real Diaper Circles reach users face-to-face with knowledge and tools to make cloth diapering accessible and acceptable to U.S. parents, who have the power to change the world one baby at a time.