New York couple donated hundreds of baby formula products amid

On Jun 11, 2022

Breast milk banks face a surge in demand as an alternative to baby formula. A supply chain backlog has made it hard to get bottles and caps to suppliers on time.

A Long Island, New York, couple frustrated by the nationwide baby formula shortage raised thousands of dollars to donate formula products to local shelters with infants.

Sheharyar Ali said his wife, Hina Ghani, was the inspiration behind their fundraiser, which drew nationwide attention, helping them get formula into the hands of parents in need.

Ali and Ghani, who have a 2-year-old son and a 3-month-old son, knew the gut-wrenching feeling of hunting for baby formula.

Ali told FOX Business their second baby was born in March, just after Abbott had shut down its Michigan plant over contamination issues.

BABY FORMULA OUT-OF-STOCK RATE INCREASED TO OVER 73% NATIONWIDE BY END OF MAY

Shortly after their second son was born, Ghani began to struggle with breastfeeding because the newborn had tongue-tie, meaning he couldn’t latch on to her nipple, Ali explained.

A Long Island couple held a baby formula drive to help parents in shelters who can’t get formula. (Sheharyar Ali )

They were forced to use formula. But Ali recalled having to drive to multiple stores to find any.

Just like other parents, Ali also faced purchasing restrictions. However, those restrictions aren’t “even applicable when you can’t even find it,” he said.

The out-of-stock rate rose to 73.58% nationwide for the week ending May 29, according to recent data from Datasembly.

That’s up from the 45% out-of-stock rate reported just a few weeks earlier.

The situation became overwhelming, and, eventually, Ghani had a meltdown, Ali said.

BABY FORMULA SHORTAGE HITS ‘CRISIS’ LEVEL, SPARKING PANIC IN PARENTS ACROSS US

“She felt she was a horrible mom,” he recalled. “She’s like, ‘I can’t feed my son. And now … there’s no formula … What’s going to happen to my son?'”

Ali said the moment served as a wake-up call for him.

“This is something that has been going on since February, and now, all of a sudden, in May, when the supply was completely depleted, there’s nothing left. Then the government, all of a sudden, wakes up and says, ‘Oh, you know, we think we have something going on,’” Ali said. “I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

A Long Island couple organized a baby formula drive to help parents in shelters who can’t get formula. (Sheharyar Ali )

Ali and Ghani’s son eventually had a procedure to fix his tongue-tie. However, Ali realized that a lot of parents have no choice but to rely on formula. Even worse, some parents don’t even have vehicles to drive out to find it.

To help, Ali used their foundation, Toys for Eid, to raise money and collect baby formula products for shelters throughout Nassau County in early May.

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They started to spread the word through social media. Within a week, they received nearly $5,000. Word spread quickly about their effort….