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MCC advocacy for state budget funding helps support local Catholic Charities agencies serving Michigan families in need
Editor’s note: The following article was first published in FOCUS, the Michigan Catholic Conference’s quarterly publication examining issues of faith and public policy.
While the amount of legislative activity at the State Capitol may fluctuate, there is one constitutional duty the Michigan Legislature must complete each year: the annual state budget.
Spanning hundreds of pages, detailing more than $80 billion in public spending, and containing bureaucratic program names, the state budget may appear irrelevant and unwieldy to the average person.
But in reality, the budget contains a series of decisions that impact the lives of all Michigan residents. A government budget ultimately serves as a moral statement that indicates the priorities public officials support with taxpayer dollars.
As the public policy voice for the Catholic Church in this state, the Michigan Catholic Conference each year analyzes the state budget and monitors the legislative appropriations process. The MCC advocates for funding that aligns with its mission to promote human dignity and serve the common good. This advocacy may include meeting with key lawmakers in both chambers and parties, collaborating with other advocacy organizations, and activating grassroots advocacy through the MCC’s Catholic Advocacy Network.
The budget, by providing a plan to spend public tax resources, affects all individuals. It should follow that the state budget then must be a document that serves the public interest. The MCC, as the voice of the Church and inspired by the example and teaching of Jesus Christ, consistently advocates for spending programs that help individuals in need.
This edition of Focus shares stories about state budget programs that support individuals in need, as well as the MCC’s advocacy to secure funding for these programs that help parents and children, homeless and runaway youth, and foster and adoptive families.
Distributing diapers — and hope — to those who need it most
How MCC advocacy helped spur a Catholic-run mobile diaper bank to serve rural Michigan families
Diapers are among the many non-negotiable staples that come with raising children. But if family finances are strained—including from the many expenses associated with childbirth—it may be difficult for some parents to afford necessities.
Many Michigan families face challenges in meeting their needs, such as diapers for their children. That was made evident when one Catholic agency distributed 1.2 million diapers to families in need across nine Michigan counties over two years, which was made possible through a state-funded grant.
The grant funding was the catalyst for the mobile diaper bank initiative run by Catholic Charities West Michigan (CCWM), the Church’s social services provider within the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Michigan Catholic Conference successfully advocated to expand the grant in the state budget to include more organizations that distribute diapers for free.
Given the amount of diapers distributed over the 10,000 recorded visits to the mobile units, the CCWM diaper bank proved a crucial resource for families in need.
“A lot of times they were coming, and you would hear, ‘I’m on my last diaper,’” said Stephanie Busch, pregnancy and parenting program manager for CCWM, who oversaw the mobile diaper bank initiative.
But with any Church initiative to serve others in need, it is not only about meeting the physical needs of individuals.
“As soon as they receive those supplies, you see the smile on their faces, you see some of that stress just leave their body, which is a pretty wonderful thing,” said Mike Voyt, the hunger prevention and children services director for True North Community Services, one of the local agencies that partnered with CCWM for the diaper distribution.
CCWM Mobile Diaper Bank by the Numbers
From 2023 to 2025, Catholic Charities West Michigan (CCWM) operated a mobile diaper bank to serve families in the Diocese of Grand Rapids. The diapers were funded through a state grant that Michigan Catholic Conference advocated for including in the state budget. Here’s a look at the impact of the CCWM-led initiative.
1,275,000
Estimated diapers distributed to individuals who visited CCWM’s mobile diaper bank over two years.
10,687
Visits made by families to CCWM’s mobile diaper bank over two years.
9
Counties served through the CCWM mobile diaper bank.
Beginning in 2025, CCWM used the state diaper funding to purchase diapers for distribution from the Muskegon location of its St. Gianna’s No Cost Baby Boutique, which provides free baby supplies and services for parents. During that year, an estimated 168,000 diapers were distributed across 2,093 visits.
‘It was obviously a need’
CCWM was invited to assist in the distribution of diapers funded by the Michigan Diaper Assistance Program, the grant included by lawmakers in the state budget.
The Catholic charity was tasked with reaching individuals across nine counties in rural west Michigan. With such a large area to cover, rather than expecting people to come to them, the agency brought the diapers to the people.
“We knew sometimes in rural areas it was hard … you might only get one ride into town in a month,” Busch said.
Catholic Charities West Michigan initiated a mobile diaper bank to serve rural west Michigan families in need. (Credit: CCWM)
With vans packed with 110 cases of diapers, CCWM staff traveled to the far northern reaches of the diocese, such as Osceola, Newaygo, Oceana, and Lake counties, and set up near local food pantries and other places where individuals received assistance.
These counties are among the more economically disadvantaged in the state, having fewer community resources available for families in need, Busch said.
“We always ran out of diapers,” she said. “We would go through the entire van. It was obviously a need, and it was something people were willing to come out for.”
MCC advocacy broadens reach of state diaper grants
The state diaper grant program began as a $250,000 item for diaper banks included in the 2022 state budget. In its monitoring of the budget for spending items of interest to the Church, the MCC noted the diaper program and reached out to multiple key lawmakers who make decisions on funding.
As a result of those meetings, the MCC successfully advocated for expanding the grant in the budget to include nonprofit agencies that distribute diapers for free, along with diaper assistance programs, maternity homes, and local county offices.
Lawmakers increased funding for the expanded program to $4.4 million in both 2023 and 2024, and then to $6.4 million in both 2025 and 2026, providing more dollars to flow to more organizations helping families obtain these necessities.
The MCC has annually reiterated its support for the program, including to the chairs of the legislative committees that oversee budget spending.
From diapers to other services that help parents in need
For CCWM — one of many organizations that distribute the state-funded diapers—the agency reported handing out 950,000 diapers across nine counties in 2023, and 325,000 diapers in five counties the following year.
The mobile diaper initiative was paused due to limitations on the funding that made it difficult to operate in the same manner as before. However, the same state funding stream continues to benefit families in need, as CCWM used it to pay for the 168,000 diapers distributed through the agency’s No Cost Baby Boutique in Muskegon during 2025.
Catholic Charities West Michigan initiated a mobile diaper bank to serve rural west Michigan families in need. (Credit: CCWM)
The CCWM initiative named after St. Gianna Molla (see below) aims to empower families through compassionate care and a dignified shopping experience. The boutique setting allows CCWM to build relationships with parents and help them in other ways.
“Diapers are what gets people in the door,” Busch said, adding that, “our hope is that from there, they’re going to be able to have a more enriched experience” by working with staff to help address other issues parents may be facing — access to employment, housing, or education, for instance.
CCWM operates St. Gianna’s locations in Grand Rapids and Muskegon and is planning to open a third location around Mecosta and Osceola counties — the same rural counties that benefited from the mobile diaper bank.
“We were approached about opening a Gianna’s up there, because the community just felt like there’s nowhere to go,” Busch said.
‘It’s about giving them that hope’
The state diaper grant program, at $6.4 million in annual spending, represents just a tiny sliver of the $80 billion state budget, and CCW
