Hannah Wasmuth poses with some of the 2,000 packages of diapers donated for the “Bum’s the Word” diaper drive benefitting Columbus-based Clarity.
Hannah Wasmuth has turned tears of heart-wrenching grief into gifts of generosity and love for needy new parents. And her eventual channeling of the deepest of her emotions has allowed her to publicly share the memory of 2-pound Zhyair King Wasmuth, stillborn on Sept. 30, 2020.
“I just wanted to do something to honor his name and his memory,” Hannah said. “I don’t want him to be forgotten.”
She and her brother, Andrew, just collected an estimated 2,000 boxes of donated diapers for the local nonprofit Clarity, a Christian-based outreach that provides a wide range of free help to expectant mothers, plus sexuality education, counseling, and much more. Last year, they collected 7,000 boxes for the diaper drive cause, under the catchy title “Bum’s the Word”.
Combining this month’s work with last year’s and the average cost of diapers, Wasmuth has saved struggling area families some $270,000 in diaper expenses.
The 20-year-old Columbus resident recalled Clarity’s work in local school classrooms when she was a student.
“All this is still a little bit emotional for me, yes,” Hannah said. “It hurts a little, but at the same time, it feels really good. And I’m so happy to help any other baby in need. And Clarity has been very grateful, because this is at a time when there is a pretty great need.”
Darcy Wasmuth, Hannah’s mom, saw a few churches catch a vision for the cause and generously donate. And she has seen her daughter occasionally still struggle with the memory of Zhyair.
“She’s still grieving and still carries some of that sadness,” her mom said.
But Zhyair’s mother is still facing forward, too.
“I can see how easily people don’t (let go) when they’re grieving,” Hannah said.
“When people are grieving, if they can search and can find something positive that might benefit someone — something to give others just a little bit of hope — to get the through the sadness they are carrying every day, then that’s good,” Darcy said. “You don’t necessarily lose that grief. But that action still does something very good.”
While she watched her daughter sob over her child as she held him after delivery at IU Health Methodist Hospital, she said she felt God gave her a revelation of him weeping over her and others in their struggles and pain.
“It was nearly unbearable,” Darcy said. “At one moment, I felt God say that just as Hannah is grieving Zhyair, he grieves us when we are apart from him. At that moment, I was able to see a glimpse of God’s love.”
The family’s love for little Zhyair was evident days ago on the day of Bum’s the Word. They wore green T-shirts, made by Tony London, in memory of the child. The message printed on them was simple and sweet: “… Until we meet again.”
Among those outfitted appropriately was Hannah’s 1-year-old son, Kendrick Malik Wasmuth. A reminder of Zhyair, yes, especially with his middle name meaning King — just like his sibling’s middle name.
About Clarity
For more information about Clarity’s faith-based mission, visit claritycares.org
