We all take things for granted every day, it’s only natural – but it truly becomes a problem when feeling clean is a luxury for so many. How can we help the millions upon millions of people living in hygiene poverty just in the UK?

The Hygiene Bank was founded by Lizzy Hall in 2018. Inspired by a scene in the Ken Loach film, ‘I Daniel Blake’, depicting a mother struggling to provide basic sanitary essentials for her and her family, she began to collect for her local food bank. After just a few weeks and more than just a few floods of donations, the Hygiene Bank was set up.

Hygiene is about more than hygiene – their aim is not only to improve health, but self-confidence and dignity. Families caught between paying the rent or feeding their children sometimes cannot afford to worry about cleanliness, yet still have to live with the judgement and humiliation of being deemed ‘dirty’. 

Just how many girls have missed school days, left housebound as they cannot access adequate period protection? How many children admitted to hospital for tooth decay, sharing one tattered toothbrush between an entire family? How many people shunned from their communities, lacking the funds to appear ‘presentable’ long enough for a job interview, isolated and never truly feeling safe? Over one third of people living in the UK have had to go without hygiene essentials due to lack of funds. The Hygiene Bank’s mission is to stop this.

So, how can we help? The Hygiene Bank functions with the help of the public, through both donations and volunteers. As the program grows and demand increases, they need more of us to be getting involved. You might choose to contribute with either one-time or monthly monetary donations, or send packages filled with products like deodorant or nappies to your nearest drop off locations. 

Alternatively, you could donate your time: volunteers’ duties include collecting the donations from the drop off points, sorting and repackaging, and dropping the parcels to the community partners. From here, they are distributed by local organisations and charities to the people who need them – this might be to social services, women’s refuges or even vulnerable children known by schools.

The past year has not been easy for anybody, and the instability means even more people are struggling to provide. If you want to help, visit https://thehygienebank.com/get-involved/