If you're a parent, you know how incredibly expensive diapers can be. Thousands of families in our region are struggling to purchase diapers for their children. We're talking about families of all backgrounds and all incomes. Many of those families are turning to the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank for help.

The average family spends between $70 and $80 a month, per child, on diapers. One in three U.S. families can't afford that.

Cathy Battle and her husband founded the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank in 2012 and since then, it has grown tremendously, distributing hundreds of thousands of diapers a year. Battle told me, even with the help, families are being forced to decide between buying diapers and necessities like food and medicine. No parent should have to make that choice.

The impact of the diaper crisis is far-reaching. Without diapers, a parent can't enroll a child in daycare, so they can't go to work or school, continuing the cycle of poverty.

"Diapers are a basic need, you have to have them, they are not covered under any government assistance," Cathy Battle, Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank.

There is currently a waiting list of agencies that want to receive diapers from the bank. Battle says she hopes to eventually expand into seven counties.

As the Diaper Bank continues to grow, more money and more volunteers are urgently needed. If you'd like to become a volunteer, or you'd like to donate, click here .

"It's a great way to give back and we need all the help we can because we cannot keep up. The demand is there. The supply is not." Cathy Battle