The Community Hygiene Bank and County Legislator Jackie Smith are holding a donation drive to prepare for upcoming Community Hygiene Bank distributions. The next distribution will be held on Saturday, March 13, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Concordia Lutheran Church parking lot, 6601 Fourth Section Road, Brockport (across from Wegmans).
A hygiene bank is similar to a food bank, but instead of food, people in need can receive personal hygiene items, paper products, and cleaning items. A group of volunteers headed up by Scarlett Aeckerle established this first “bank” of its type in March 2017, serving 11 families. It now serves approximately 120 families at each distribution. Almost half of the customers who attend these distributions are seniors on fixed incomes who don’t have enough money to pay for these essential health care needs. Like so many other families, they often don’t have enough money to pay for competing daily demands of food, housing, utilities, and medications.
The Community Hygiene Bank serves families and individuals in need of all ages, from children to seniors, who live in the Brockport Central School district as well as SUNY Brockport students. Since the beginning of COVID, many first-time families have attended distributions, those who have recently become unemployed or underemployed.
The Community Hygiene Bank also runs two additional outreach programs; one to help provide BCSD students in grades K-12 with needed hygiene items and a second to provide rural farmworkers with personal hygiene kits.
County Legislator Jackie Smith said, “It is important to help our residents have access to their most basic needs. Lack of hygiene products can negatively affect good health and the mental well-being of residents.”
The donation drive will run until Thursday, March 11. Donations can be dropped off at the Sweden Town Hall, Village of Brockport Office, Clarkson Town Hall, or Hamlin Town Hall. Items that can be donated include full size, unopened shampoo, body wash, deodorant, body lotion, toothpaste, tooth brushes, feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence products, dish soap, laundry detergent, household cleanser, bar soap, disposable razors, toilet paper, paper towel, and tissues. No medicated products, please.
Those with questions can contact Jackie Smith at 585-637-8039 or send email to
communityhygienebank@gmail.com.
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