A Recap of the Pampers Event & I'm Asking For Your Help

Nearly two weeks ago 14 mom bloggers (myself included) attended the Pampers headquarters in Cincinnati where we learned so much about the brand and the people behind Pampers.

NOTE: This is my longest post ever but it's very important that you read through to the end, or atleast skip to the end for information on how you can save the life of a baby for just 5 cents!

Pampers Day 1:

When I first arrived at the event I had no idea who or what to expect. I was just hoping for some really nice receptive moms. And, that is exactly what I got.

The first mommy bloggers I met were Elizabeth from Busy Mom & Elizabeth from Table for Five. They were both so very nice and welcoming. (Thank You!) After meeting them in the café I felt so much better about coming to the event because frankly, from the moment I arrived in Cincinnati I was dreadfully nervous.

Anyway…

About an hour later we all met in the lobby to go to the P&G Archives. The first two people in the lobby were me & Romi from True Mom Confessions. A few minutes later we met up with the rest of the moms including Kailani from An Island Life, Heather from Lil Sugar, Amanda from Oh Amanda, Karen from Thrifty Mommy, Lisa from My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings, Isabel from Alpha Mom, Erica from Yummy Mummy, Stacy from Mom Central, Christine from Boston Mamas, and later Mindy from The Mommy blog.

We were taken via SUVs to the P&G Archives where we met a bunch of people (I’m not great with names or note taking-Kailani has a great post with everyone's names) who shared with us a lot of the history of the P& G and Pampers brand. We learned a lot of interesting historical facts. Then we went off to dinner at the Brio Tuscan Grille in my home state of Kentucky. All of the food was delicious except the cold asparagus wrapped in smoked ham (was it ham? All I know is that it’s not something we eat back where I’m from ;) )

I sat at the table with Kailani, Karen, Isabel, Heather, Amanda, and a few others from P&G. We all got to know each other a little better, and wow, what interesting people I was surrounded by ESPECIALLY the moms! After dinner I went straight to my comfy hotel room, did a play by play of the night to my husband (he was fortunate enough to come with me), called the boys then fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

Day 2:

At 8:30 a.m. we all met in the hotel lobby to be transported to the Baby Care Headquarters. While there we had breakfast, went to panels, did some product testing, watched a prototype diaper being made, observed babies in a focus group, had lunch,got interviewed (yikes!), and then the highlight of the day - meeting the president & CEO of Unicef, Caryl Stern. It was an overwhelming and fast-paced day – something I’m definitely not used to.

Nearing the end of our day, Caryl talked to us about the Unicef & Pampers one pack = one vaccine campaign. We learned that 5 cents can buy a tetanus vaccine for a child in developing countries.

And while what Pampers is currently doing is commendable IT IS NOT enough given that thousands of moms and babies still die every year because they don't have access to the vaccine. That is where you come in. By buying the Pampers products with the special Unicef label, Pampers will donate one vaccine per each pack of diapers bought. At the end of the day we found out that Pampers also donated 1,000 vaccines per each mom blogger in attendance.14,000 more babies will live.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Before leaving the event we all agreed as moms to help further this cause. How could we say no?

So, a widget was created for us to put on our blogs that goes straight to the Unicef website where you can make a donation. You can donate any amount ($1.00 will save 20 lives) directly through the widget in my right sidebar. Do you see it over there?

A Reminder: The current campaign ends on August 31 so please make a donation now. If you can't donate then I urge you to please link to this post to help spread the word (if you link to this post or donate please email me so I can add you to my thank you post).

Overall, the biggest take away I got from the Pampers event was that the people who work there really believe in what they are doing. They are passionate. They seem to really want to make the lives of Moms easier and better. We didn't come home to blog about how great their products were. We came home with a mission to help save lives. How great is that?

All in all, I had a wonderful time and feel very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to meet so many mom bloggers that I’ve become familiar with online over the past year or two. It was also nice meeting the Pampers staff and everyone who helped put this event together. Thanks P&G, Pampers, Paine PR, & Rocket XL.

Here is a link to some of the recaps done so far.

Oh Amanda's post: Vaccines & More Vaccines
Boston Mama's post:Lessons From Pampers
Kailani's post: Pamper & Unicef's Campaign
Table for Five's Post: How You Can Wipe Out Maternal And Neonatal Tetanus

• You can view all of my Pampers photos on flickr. Elizabeth from Table for Five has so many more photos, and here are some of the Pampers Pro photos.