While others look away from trouble, this lady digs in and gets to work. Gretchen Buchenholz, the native New Yorker and mother of six, has worked on behalf of needy and margin1alized families for years in the city. She does everything from buy groceries for homeless families to start schools for children. In 1974 she founded Merricat's Castle, a nursery school that opened its doors to kids of all racial and economic backgrounds, the able-bodied as well as those with disabilities or terminal illnesses. She founded the Association to Benefit Children (ABC), the nonprofit group, some 20 years ago. The story of how she started ABC is pretty amazing. In 1984 she was on her way to a government office to get a day-care permit when, by accident, she entered a room where homeless families were waiting to be placed in a " welfare hotel." She saw three bare cribs   with babies lying in them. The children wore no diapers (their parents couldn't afford them), and the room was filthy  . After talking to the parents and learning that they and their children were hungry, Gretchen marched out and bought bread, peanut butter, apple juice and diapers. Then she started making phone calls. She dialed the American Red Cross, City Hall and The New York Times. Gretchen has made many people see that we need to recognize these children are not different from our own, and we need to join in and help. Too often, people look away from suffering. But she sets us an example that we should gain strength to do something about it. The children wore no diapers because  _  .
they had no parents their parents were waiting for the government's help their parents had no money to buy diapers Gretchen Buchenholz would buy diapers for them