Our Story
Gentle Love Connections was founded in June of 2020 by Kyle Zingler, then a sophomore at Manchester High School, with the support of his classmates Alexandra Hamza, Jabari Murphy, and his sister Julia Zingler and her close friend, Sylvia Squatrito.
One day in early April 2020, Kyle’s mother, who works for Vernon Public Schools, expressed her struggles connecting a mother in a domestic violence incident with diapers. Kyle was motivated to solve this injustice after learning that there were no diaper or baby supply pantries accessible to families in his community. Diapers had also been hard to come by due to material shortages and disruptions within the supply chain. Additionally, federal assistance programs like SNAP and WIC do not cover or defray the cost of diapers which amount to significant expense for families, costing on average $70-80 a month per a child.
He held his first diaper drive on June 11, 2020 which collected over 17,000 diapers and since then the initiative has grown into a full scale nonprofit with diapers being distributed through seven community partners . Over 400,000 diapers have been distributed to marginalized, low income families. However, our work is only beginning.
Signature Programs
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Our diaper program consistly supports 400 children with a supplemental supply of diapers each month
Children Supported
Diapers
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In an effort to reduce fatality rates from car accidents, the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 0 and 13, we are distributing free car seats to income ineligible families within the Town of Manchester.
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Over the summer of 2024, we distributed 500 summer safety kits to several participating partners. These kits were a component of a wide public health messaging campaign that ran for 14 weeks from Memorial Day to Labor Day touching on topics from sun safety to drowning prevention.
Communities Served
Manchester, CT
East Hartford, CT
South Windsor, CT
Vernon, CT
Mission
To connect marginalized, low-income families with some of the essentials needed to thrive while improving their quality of life, health and overall wellbeing.
Vision
To establish and sustain a baby supply bank that will serve as incubator for new concepts that will improve health outcomes for region's children and families and serve as a connector to other community based resources.