How high is a pile of 226,559 diapers?

We don’t really know, but that’s how many disposable diapers 26 Junior Leagues collected in the first year of Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies® Every Little Bottom program, which plans to donate more than 22.5 million diapers to babies and moms in need in North America in 2011.

We were honored to be chosen as one of the program’s major nonprofit partners, but we were gratified to find that amazing total of diaper donations from only 26 Leagues in a total of 76 drives.

The Junior League of Edmonton collected more than 100,000 diapers in a 90-day campaign. A dedicated new member group embraced this project and has now set the bar extremely high as we head into our second year. Key elements of Edmonton’s successful strategy included: five organized diaper drives at area shopping malls, diaper drop points at more than 20 local supporters (retailers, churches, children’s play groups), seven workplace mini-drives, online cash donations and a partnership with our local Gymboree Music and Play—they hosted a free pajama night with a donation of diapers. A local Edmonton dance studio, J’adore Dance challenged their customers to collect 5000 towards this campaign. If this target was met, they agreed to donate $500 toward the purchase of additional diapers—their customers responded and in one month, they had collected 5,000 diapers!

But every one of the participating Leagues had an important role to play, not only in bringing in the diaper donations but also in using all of their communications tools in promoting Every Little Bottom—an important objective of our partner Kimberly-Clark.

So far this fall (the campaign kicked off again in September), 27 participating Junior Leagues are off to a good start. The Junior League of Boca Raton has collected over 39,000 diapers so far (a member asked for diapers for her daughter’s first birthday and got tons of diapers). The Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties collected 1,450 diapers at a GMM. The Junior League of Northern Virginia collected 2,587 diapers at its first internal event, with community-wide drives planned this month. And, the Junior League of Pittsburgh collected 1,671 at its first event in September.

And there are more stories to tell!

Here is the list of participating Junior Leagues: the Junior League of Edmonton, the Junior League of Rockford, IL, the Junior League of Douglas County, GA, the Junior League of Columbus, OH, the Junior League of Cobb-Marietta, the Junior League of Central Westchester, the Junior League of Saginaw Valley, the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties, the Junior League of Kane & DuPage Counties, the Junior League of Northern Virginia, the Junior League of Summit, the Junior League of Lansing, the Junior League of Greater Springfield, the Junior League of Greater Princeton, the Junior League of Dayton, the Junior League of Colorado Springs, the Junior League of Boca Raton, the Junior League of Annapolis, the Junior League of Evanston-North Shore, the Junior League of Stamford-Norwalk, the Junior League of South Brevard, the Junior League of Los Angeles, the Junior League of Fairmont, the Junior League of Spartanburg, the Junior League of Elizabeth-Plainfield, the Junior League of Bergen County, the Junior League of Pittsburgh and the Junior League of Washington, DC.

For information on how your League can participate in the Huggies® Every Little Bottom program, go to EveryLittleBottom.com.