Free diapers, cribs for 500 Nashville families

Diapers, car seats and cribs were just a few of the items available to families free of charge at a community event held in Nashville on Wednesday. More than 500 families signed up to get these resources before organizers had to close registration, reflecting the high volume of families struggling to afford the basic necessities. 

Mental Health Cooperative (MHC) partnered with Mother to Mother to give families free resources. The latter is a nonprofit organization that provides infant and toddler essentials to families in need, while the Mental Health Cooperative offers mental health services for adults, children and youth across Tennessee.  

Dozens of organizations, including Second Harvest, the Nashville Public Library and Metro Action/Head Start showed up at the MHC location in North Nashville to lend families support.

Louvenia Seay, her daughter and two granddaughters were among the hundreds in attendance.

“My daughter called and asked me, ‘Mama, would you like to come to the event to receive some blessings?’ ” she told WPLN News. “I said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ So, she brought me out.”

Seay has 5 grandchildren, and she came to the event hoping to get a gift that would help one of her youngest learn to walk. 

“I came to get a walker because my grandson, he’s one year old and he’s not able to sit up and he is not able to walk and he has delay in development,” she said. “So, I saw this little push toy to kind of help him out a little bit, which was a blessing for me.”

Mental Health Cooperative first hosted the event with Mother to Mother in 2025, and about 400 people registered. Demand was even greater this year, according to Shaun Womack, the facility administrator at Mental Health Cooperative.

“We didn’t quite know what to expect last year when we initially held the first event and we had far more people here than anticipated,” Womack told WPLN News. “So, it’s been nice that even more folks will be able to get those resources this year.”

To get people signed up, Womack said they first targeted families already receiving services from Mental Health Cooperative, but the event was open to anyone and there was no income verification. 

Womack also noted that his team’s close ties with the community is the reason they knew many families were in need. 

In addition to free items, families could also get information on mental health resources focused on the demands of infants and toddlers. 

Organizers plan to hold the event again next year due to the high turnout, which shows how needed this assistance is in Nashville.