A Twickenham charity is bringing residents together as it aims to eradicate hygiene poverty.
The Hygiene Bank, started by Lizzie Hall in August 2018, is a national charity which provides products to those struggling with hygiene poverty, while running volunteer-based projects throughout the borough.
Partnership manager, Julia Westgarth, 60, works alongside the project coordinators to ensure the projects are carried out smoothly.
Westgarth said: “We want to make sure everybody within our community has access to the basic essentials that so many of us take for granted.
“We don’t want any more stories of families sharing a toothbrush and stories of mums scraping out the contents of nappies to reuse them because they can’t afford to buy a new pack.
“We want to look at the barriers to getting rid of hygiene poverty, and we want to look at proper, practical, lasting solutions.”
The organisation asks the public to donate new and unused products to them, which are then taken to their various drop off points, as well as independent points like Squire’s Garden Centre and Richmond Furniture.
Products are given to community partners to be sold free of charge, which can be charities or other non profits such as the Richmond Soup Kitchen, that The Hygiene Bank recently took on.
The foundation has three Boots stores in Teddington, Twickenham and Richmond where it has their branded boxes.
Westgarth said that when she gets funding, one of the first things she does is check in with her community partners about what specific products they want.
Westgarth also emphasised how the government ought to spread more awareness about hygiene deprivation, and the misconception that this is something that people bring on to themselves.
She said: “We’ve all got a responsibility to turn things around, but particularly the government.
“What we found is you can be a working person, a working couple, or you’ve got a young family and all it takes is maybe one event to cause hygiene poverty.”
She highlighted concern about the 20% VAT tax on soap, that the bank has an ongoing petition to stop.
Westgarth said: “Soap carries 20% VAT, but lobsters and gold bars are VAT free.
“In a world where every penny is accountable in somebody’s life, just reducing the cost of a bar of soap by a few pence is going to have a huge impact for them.”
The products currently in demand are basics like shampoo, shower gel, toothbrushes, period products and products for Black and Asian skin and hair.
During the lead up to Christmas, Westgarth said more people are on the cusp of hygiene poverty.
In aims to solve this, the charity tends to have a yearly campaign in the run up to Christmas called It’s In The Bag, where they ask people to fill a bag with hygiene products and drop them off to them.
Westgarth said: “I’d really want people to start having a conversation about hygiene poverty and educating themselves, their family and their friends so that they realise that it does exist.
“It could be people in your street who are suffering at the moment.”
Feel free to get in touch with Julia Westgarth regarding donations at [email protected]
Featured image (credit: Julia Westgarth)
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