Live blog: WCIA 3 Diaper Drive 2025

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10 hours ago

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — WCIA 3's annual Diaper Drive for Nexstar's Founder's Day of Caring took place June 20. Throughout the day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., we collected new / unopened packs of diapers for newborns and toddlers, as well as monetary donations in our backlot.
We hoped to collect enough diapers and money to be able to care for Champaign County children for six months. After 13 hours, we collected enough to last five-and-a-half months.
The diaper drive may be over, but you can still donate year-round online by clicking here.
Updates from the drive, including donation totals, who reigns on the diaper race leaderboard, and more, are listed below.
7 p.m.
After 13 hours, the WCIA diaper drive for Nexstar Founder's Day wraps up with the final number. United Way CEO Sue Grey reveals how long donations from the diaper drive will be able to care for Champaign County children.
In the diaper changing race, there is a new champion, with Jennifer Newell having the fastest time of 17.46 seconds. A table of participants and their times are listed below.
Time (in seconds)
Participant
17:46
Jennifer Newell
17:83
Stephanie Seay
18:65
Brandon Merano
21:83
Sarah Sandquist
25:00
Kevin Hildebrand
26:20
Josh Jessup
28:43
Kevin Lighty
29:10
Katie Madigan
29:20
Luke Sullivan
30:06
Seth Bohnhoff
31:39
Laur Bleill
31:63
Cindy Crawford
32:50
Senator Paul Faraci
32:79
Sue Grey
32:87
Jennifer Roscoe
34:00
Jess Firmand
34:03
Dr. Lymarie Rosado
34:40
Alyssa Whitacre
34:90
Michelle Gonzales
35:32
Amanda Brennan
37:66
Julie Cebulski
38:13
Martin O'Donnell
38:26
Mitchell Rife
38:33
Andy Quarnstrom
39:20
Julie Pryde
39:83
Laura Gerhold
45:16
Brad Zimmerman
48:23
Addy Johnson
51:40
Heidi Gulbrandson
6:55 p.m.
There's one more diaper changing race between WCIA reporters before the diaper drive wraps up. Brandon Merano, with a station-leading 18 seconds, squares off with new dad Seth Bohnhoff.
6:40 p.m.
Becca Guyette with United Way of Champaign County speaks on what happens to diapers after they are donated.
6:16 p.m.
Kevin Hildebrand with CRS Hospitality was the winner of the diaper changing race last year, and he's back to defend his title.
6:10 p.m.
Jennifer Roscoe speaks with Dr. Lymarie Rosado, a pediatric intensive care physician at Carle, on how important clean diapers are for a baby, not just for hygiene but for their development.
5:25 p.m.
It's usually not a good thing to see an ambulance, but a crew from AMT Ambulance stopped by the WCIA backlot for a good reason. They donated 4,500 diapers, one of the biggest donations of the 2025 diaper drive and a close second to the Champaign Park District, which donated just over 5,000 diapers.
5:15 p.m.
Another rematch in the WCIA diaper changing race, this time it's Jennifer and Kevin. Kevin won this matchup last year but lost to Seth just minutes earlier. He's looking to bounce back.
5:00 p.m
The WCIA Weather team has two dads on the team — Kevin and Seth. They went head-to-head in the diaper changing race to defend their wins — Kevin from last year and Seth from just minutes earlier.
4:51 p.m.
It's a rematch one year in the making. Seth and Amanda go head-to-head again in a race to change a doll's diaper the fastest. But unlike last year, Seth now has experience with a real baby. He's looking for redemption.
4:30 p.m.
Amanda Brennan interviews Bev Baker, Chief Impact Officer of United Way of Champaign County, on the history of diaper banks in Champaign County, how United Way became involved and how they get diapers into the community.
4:00 p.m.
Behind the scenes, WCIA employees are busy handling diapers and getting them ready for distribution to the community. Here's a step-by-step process of how that happens:
12:25 p.m.
Amanda, Jacob and Mitch face off during WCIA's Diaper Drive with United Way of Champaign County. This is round three for Mitch, who hasn't had any luck all morning with changing a diaper the fastest.
12:10 p.m.
Organizations across Champaign-Urbana have been collecting diapers ahead of WCIA's diaper drive all week. Amanda Brennan visited two banks and a law firm that participated, picked up the diapers they collected and spoke with staff on why they took part.
12:03 p.m.
Sue Gray, the President and CEO of United Way Champaign County, provides an update on how many diapers have been donated during WCIA's diaper drive for Nexstar Founder's Day of Caring.
11:45 a.m.
10 a.m.
Jacob Dickey and Mitchell Rife wrap up The Morning Show with an update on how many diapers have been donated so far and with their plans on how to beat Taylor Mitchell in the diaper changing race.
9:50 a.m.
It's redemption time for Mitchell Rife. He lost to Taylor Mitchell earlier in The Morning Show, so he's getting another chance to beat his co-anchor in the diaper changing race.
9:17 a.m.
WCIA's Amanda Brennan speaks with Dr. Awad Alyami, a pediatrician at OSF, on how important diapers are for babies' health and why they must be clean.
'Diapers take care of the skin, which is the first defense mechanism of the body from germs and infections,' Alyami said. 'Urine and stool is very irritant to the skin, so if (the diaper) isn't changed quickly enough, we can have diaper rash…if that's not addressed quickly enough, we might run the risk of superimposed yeast infection or bacterial infection.'
'A diaper change doesn't cost much, but to treat infections after that can be very costly,' Alyami added.
He added that he often sees families without diaper bags when they bring their babies for appointments. In that event, OSF does connect families with community resources to help them.
9:13 a.m.
Already a few hours into the Diaper Drive event, Taylor Mitchell and Mitchell Rife checked in to see how donations are coming in and who reigns on the diaper race leaderboard so far.
9:01 a.m.
Mitchell Rife took on Beverley Baker of United Way for another diaper changing race.
After Baker celebrated a victory, she discussed the impact of donations to the diaper drive.
'We reached enough to cover the diaper bank for four months last year. We would love to be able to reach six, if at all possible. We've seen the need increase. We're getting the demand from our partners and we know that families in our community are stretching their dollars … We want to keep the kids in our community healthy, we want families to be able to go to work and school, kids to be able to go to childcare where they're safe and well cared for, and we need the diapers to accomplish all of those things,' Baker said.
7:46 a.m.
Laura Gerhold from the Family Room talks about how donations are important for their children who go into the foster care system.
'Every year there are 100s of children who enter into the foster care system here in Champaign County,' Gerhold said. 'Those children are in need just like your own children at home, and so making sure that they have access to diapers so that they're clean and sanitary and their families can support them in other ways financially. Sometimes when children enter into a new home, there may be limited resources. This is one burden that we can take off of those families because everyone knows the cost of taking care of a kid and any little bit of support can help.'
Gerhold added that families are so grateful and thankful when they receive the donations.
7:26 a.m.
The Morning Show team went head-to-head in a diaper changing race.
7:15 a.m.
Cindy Crawford of the Community Service Center in Rantoul said having this event in 'critical' to help fill a community need.
'Right now with our economy, it's just so challenging for people to be able to afford diapers, and they're very expensive,' Crawford said. 'Wipes as well. So just being able to provide that to people is huge.'
Crawford said at the Community Service Center, they provide diapers for around 100-300 children a month at their location alone.
'This is a multiplier effect. If they're able to get help with diapers, they're able to get out and buy other things that their families need,' Crawford added.
6:57 a.m.
WCIA's Mitchell Rife faces off with Martin O'Donnell of Busey Bank in one of the first diaper changing races of the day.
Ultimately, O'Donnell walked away with a win at a time of 38.13 seconds. That time puts him in third place, behind Stephanie Seay (17.83) and Sarah Sandquist (21.83).
6:37 a.m.
Mitchell Rife caught up with Chief Development Officer of United Way Becca Guyette on why diaper donations are so helpful. Guyette said that between 13- 14,000 diapers are distributed a month from United Way to the community through their partner agencies. Last year, WCIA collected around 15,000 diapers in just one day for the drive, emphasizing how far the donation drive goes to help families in need.
6:15 a.m.
WCIA's Taylor Mitchell and Mitchell Rife preview more of what's to come throughout the event, including the anticipated diaper races. Rife said he's vying for that number one spot this year.
6 a.m.
As the Diaper Drive kicked off, our own Mitchell Rife talked with United Way's Carolyn Butterfield about the importance of the drive.
Butterfield said diapers are about $80-100 per month, per child.
'So when you're on a limited budget, that's a lot of money…' Butterfield said. 'Folks are forced to make it stretch until their next paycheck. And those are tough choices. Parents don't want to do that. But we're here to help kind of bridge that gap so that folks can get to that next paycheck, not have to ration diapers, kids are healthier, parents don't have to miss work or school because they can't bring enough diapers to daycare. So that's real important; that affects the household bottom line.'
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