Finally tonight, here's a statistic that will make you pause.

Nearly half of families with young children in the U.S. can't afford the diapers they need to keep their babies clean, dry and healthy.

What's worse, food stamp programs like NJ SNAP can't be used by low income families to pay for them.

Places like the Salvation Army in Trenton are stepping up efforts with a yearlong diaper pantry distribution for local families to fill the gaps where parents can't.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has a look at how advocates are trying to combat this public health crisis.

Diapers are very expensive and it would be very hard for me to adjust my economic situation to be able to buy the diapers for my child.

Iris Bautista is a mom of four young kids whose family lives on her spouse's income.

By the end of the month, after paying rent and other bills, she's left with little to no money for groceries or basic needs, like diapers for five month old Manny.

It helps me a lot to have diapers available for my baby.

And the Salvation Army has been helping me on a monthly basis with a supply of diapers to keep my baby healthy and happy.

And also it helps me economically as well.

And that's because while the cost of just about everything has gone up.

Diapers are no exception.

And babies can use anywhere from 5 to 12 diapers a day on average, depending on their age.

These items are a basic need to keep babies healthy and clean, but they're also very expensive.

Buying diapers, wipes, formula.

It adds up and families will need to choose whether they keep their babies clean or whether they need to buy food or whether they pay next month's rent.

It's that critical.

Diapers are one of those things that, you know, I think people don't think about immediately when people think about food insecurity, but they often go hand in hand.

Right.

So a person who needs to drop off their children in child care without those clean diapers, they can drop off their child in child care and then go to work.

And so it's like a cyclical thing.

So without those items, you know, we see that cycle of food insecurity.

Just keep repeating itself.

During this National Diaper Need Awareness Week.

Organizations like the Community Foodbank of New Jersey and the Salvation Army ask those who want to help to remember the need for these basic care items because they're not covered by federally funded public assistance programs like SNAP or work.

Which is alarming when you consider the need.

Nearly one in two families in the US actually can't afford clean diapers to keep their child healthy and dry.

And Captain Isabella Porchetti says the Salvation Army struggles sometimes to keep them stocked on their shelves.

We do run very quickly, especially for the bigger diaper sizes.

And when we do, we we just make a call and we say, hey, we need help.

Sometimes our advisory board steps in and say, we want to be able to supply this.

Otherwise, we're just waiting on donations to come in, whether it's a check in the mail or someone to drop, drop them off at our office.

I am grateful with all my heart to the Salvation Army and all the people that are involved in the operation, in making sure the people like me have their needs satisfied.

And even though I can't repay them back at the moment, I know that God will do that for them.

So with all eyes on this issue during National Diaper Need Awareness Week, the reality is for so many families in New Jersey, this need exists day in and day out.

All year round.

So this outreach is critical.

In Trenton, I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight News.