Our product donations allow organisations, projects and services to save precious funds and do more for the people they support by helping to reduce poor personal hygiene and to address physical and mental well being.
Donating unwanted products also has a wider positive impact by reducing waste.
Improve Health & Wellbeing
Community partners use donations to help tackle poor or neglected personal hygiene by distributing donated items such as soaps, detergents, toothpaste and period products to those that they serve.
Without these donations many in our society may otherwise be forced to cut back on the essentials needed to maintain their physical and mental well-being.
Claire, Operations Manager - Bromley Foodbank
We have clients who haven’t able to clean their teeth properly for weeks or wash everything from their dishes to their clothes, bodies and faces in the same cheap washing up liquid. It’s great to be able to help with these items - all of which are good quality and well-known brands.
Dignity, Self Esteem & Inclusion
Our donations have helped to address social exclusion and isolation.
For the most vulnerable of us in society, hygiene products, as well as gifts and treats can go a long way in maintaining normality and lifting spirits. Giving quality, branded goods is a small contribution to building self-esteem and avoiding social exclusion. Donations help those of us experiencing hardship to look and feel better.
Operations Manager - Look Ahead Womens Refuge
There are many gifting schemes for children in poverty at Christmas, so being able to give our women a gift too - a handbag packed full of all the essentials they needed as well as beauty treats like make-up and body lotions from known brands, things they simply could never never afford, caused real excitement.
Tackling Crisis
Our partners tell us that donations help them to provide essential support to people who are struggling to afford basic supplies.
Many community partners in our network support people in crisis who may be fleeing abuse, who may be uprooted from their communities or struggling to make ends meet. Our donations can help those in crisis maintain a clean and comfortable life by receiving everyday essentials.
Chris Johnson, Head Teacher - Phoenix Community Primary School
Tooth decay is a serious and increasing problem in school and regular donation of toothbrushes and toothpaste has enabled us to introduce daily toothbrushing in the school day routine for reception and Yr 1. We know from experience that good health and hygiene makes a big difference to how effectively pupils can learn and concentrate in school as well as protecting their self-esteem.
Supporting Organisations and Communities
Partner organisations have all reported an increase in demand for their services. With funding challenges and increasing demand, donations from The Hygiene Bank help organisations to save money and deliver new and enhanced initiatives.
Mary - Support Worker - DAVSS
Within two hours of contacting The Hygiene Bank, they were able to provide, not just nappies, but an entire range of hygiene and personal care products for this young mum and her baby fleeing domestic abuse.This has been the best and quickest response I ever had to an SOS !!!
Enhancing Community & Reducing Conflict
Poverty triggers behavioural changes in people. Desperation and need forces law abiding people steal to provide for themselves and their families. This rise in shop lifting and off each other leads to a fractured community.
Organisations supporting people in shared accommodation facilities (supported housing, refuges, hostels) have commented that provision of these every day basics doesn’t just relieve the obvious physical hygiene element but has reduced theft and therefore conflict, tension and anxiety, enhancing community and sharing among the residents.
Sarah Weller - Calvery Well
The Hygiene Bank have generously supported the Supported Housing project where I work since it’s inception. The Hostel in Tunbridge Wells supports vulnerable young teenagers and adults from 16-25. Our clients can come to us from the street or sofa surfing, with no possessions, so it is vital that we can provide them with a welcome pack of toiletries and hygiene essentials on their arrival. The support of the Hygiene Bank has made this possible. However, the impact of The Hygiene Bank is much more than simply providing hygiene supplies. Living on benefits, some clients might not prioritise the purchase of good quality toiletries and so there was always the risk of theft from the communal bathrooms. What I’ve begun to notice that now that every client has their own stash of self- care products, theft has diminished which has resulted in much less conflict within the community. This has had a knock on effect resulting in a more harmonious atmosphere and one of friendship and collaboration.
