PARENT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Lindsay Gill
BY SASHA ROGELBERG
You began The Napkin Network
at the beginning of the
pandemic. Why?
When COVID happened, I had two children
at the time… I had to stop working full-time
at Luke’s Wings (Gill's husband’s nonprofit
providing free airfare for military families to
visit their injured loved ones). And I just was
seeing in the news how many moms really
were struggling to take care of their children,
whether it was financial, or providing basic
baby needs, getting ready for daycare. Every
day it was something bad, and the thing that
I kept seeing most was that they’re struggling
to afford basic essentials like diapers. I just
reached out to some of my mom friends,
and I actually did a diaper drive for the DC
Diaper Bank. And I thought, 'Well, I could do
that again, or I could make it into something
that I oversee and make it a little more
comprehensive.' The Napkin Network pivoted to
help victims of the earthquakes
in Turkey. How?
is telling us they need. They need items like
pre-made formulabecause access to water
is difficult. They need warm clothes for
babies, diapers, things like that. So we’re
still within our mission. We’re just sending
these items through the Turkish embassy
internationally this time.

What is the goal of the
organization moving forward?
Now, I want to really make sure that we’re
helping moms in need in the DMV area because
that’s where I’m born and raised, where my
children are going to school and growing up.

But I do hope the bigger picture will be that
there’s chapters of The Napkin Network all
over the country. There’s no reason why this
model can’t be in every city in every state.

What values do you hope your
work in The Napkin Network will
instill in your young children?
My kids…their little brains—they didn’t
necessarily know that [the Napkin Network
deliveries] weren’t for them. It took a couple
of times of saying, ‘These aren’t for you. These
are for people who need them.’
Just trying to have that conversation that
not everyone is lucky or blessed as they are.

So Mommy and Daddy and our friends and
our family are trying to help give stuff to
people who can’t afford them or need them.

And they’re starting to understand it, and it’s
really special.

How has your work at The
Napkin Network influenced how
you view your own experience
as a parent?
I started The Napkin Network to help other
moms, moms ‘in need’... But I’ve also been
raising a 1-year-old in the height of two really
When I started The Napkin Network, I wanted major crises, basically: a formula shortage…and
to be small enough to make decisions in real also we’re dealing with COVID, RSV and flu. I
time, where the real needs were. Just seeing also became a mom ‘in need’, but just a different
these terrible images and these heartbreaking sort of need. So it’s been really eye-opening for
stories of moms and babies and Turkey, and me to go from helping others who couldn’t afford
just the suffering — we’re just doing what things to really being a mom in need myself and
we can by understanding what the embassy struggling to find basic baby essentials. 1
28 Washington FAMILY
APRIL 2023
PROVIDED PHOTOS
S ince the onset of the pandemic, The
Napkin Network has collected more
than 200,000 diapers and thousands
of cans of baby formula. The nonprofit,
committed to providing baby essentials to
those in need, has donated 10,000+ diapers
to local parents and distributed formula and
diapers to four partner nonprofits in the
Washington, D.C. area, such as Feed the Fridge.

Behind The Napkin Network is founder
and Bethesda mom Lindsay Gill, a 38-year-old
who not only wants to make a difference in
her community by helping moms in need, but
also by teaching her three children — Fletcher
Jr., 6; Gwyneth, 3; and Dane, 1 — about the
importance of lending a helping hand.




PARENT YOU SHOULD KNOW
WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY’S
FAVORITE …
Meal We’re a big slow cooker family, but I would say
we love home-cooked chili. That’s a favorite.

Vacation spot
We love the Finger Lakes, and we love the
Outer Banks.

Family Memory
When we went to the Outer Banks. It’s just
such a nice feeling to go somewhere as a
family. We rent a house, everything’s quiet,
we bring our dog — we have a husky — and
just spend time together in
a different environment.

PARTY DIREC TORY
INSIDE! P. 18
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