It’s really not about us, its about you. YOU.

It’s about our supporters, collaborators, volunteers, individuals, and families we have the privilege to serve with and to serve.

It’s not about our alcaides, it’s about everyone that has come together to provide so much to so many. Some we gratefully publicly acknowledge, many more we thank who choose to stay in the recesses giving and serving, preferring their anonymity.

Our goal, which is being fulfilled through you, is to meet the undermet and more often unmet need for hygiene products, and to alleviate the shame, desperation, and increased chance of illness and disease which often accompany Hygiene Poverty. To serve the underserved and unserved individuals and families in Racine County, increasing our reach throughout Milwaukee and Kenosha Counties.

What is Hygiene Poverty?

“Hygiene is defined as a set of practices that are necessary to prevent the spread of disease and preserve health. People typically achieve this by maintaining the cleanliness of their body and the environment they live in. Hygiene is essential for staying healthy, as it reduces the chances of getting sick.” [1]  Poverty “refers to the state or condition in which people or communities lack the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. As such, their basic human needs cannot be met.”[2]

“Improper hygiene can lead to various significant diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes common hygiene-related health conditions, including athlete’s foot, dental infection, lice, ringworm, and food poisoning. Some of these are linked to improperly cleaned clothing, bedding, and other household items. Others are caused by poor personal hygiene.”[3] “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of oral disease is highly prevalent, and the country spends more than $124 billion on dental care costs each year.”[4]

“Today 385 million children around the world live in poverty. According to UNICEF, child poverty is when a child is living within a household in which the family’s economic resources are below the threshold of what is required to meet their basic needs such as food, clothing, housing and hygiene items.”[5] “Diseases induced by poor hygiene pose a risk to everyone, but persons with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable. So the elderly and children are the first to be targeted in this…”[4]

“Good personal hygiene involves keeping all parts of the external body clean and healthy. It is important for maintaining both physical and mental health. In people with poor personal hygiene, the body provides an ideal environment for germs to grow, leaving it vulnerable to infection. On a social level, people may avoid a person with poor personal hygiene, which may result in isolation and loneliness.”[6]  “The main goal of personal hygiene is to improve or enhance personal standards of cleanliness, within people’s living conditions. Some of the personal hygiene practices include bathing, washing clothes, washing hands, proper use of the toilet, caring for the teeth, nails, feet, personal grooming, maintaining good practices when either spitting, sneezing, or coughing, and inculcating clean habits at a young age.”[7] Within children, “Good hygiene is critical for preventing the spread of infectious diseases and helping children lead long, healthy lives. It also prevents them from missing school, resulting in better learning outcomes.”[8]

The need for the implementation of proper hygiene is paramount to our community members both physically and emotionally, but regrettably the need is unrecognized within our public service programs. “While there are many public programs…to help families obtain health care, food, and housing, there are none to help with hygiene products. (…these essential items are often taxed, when food, medicine, and other widely recognized necessities are not.) The programs most commonly used by low-wage earners to help pay at the grocery store—SNAP and WIC—do not cover hygiene supplies…pointing out that people who cannot afford everything from shampoo to baby wipes have no source of public help.”[9] Alas, “every month thousands of people across Wisconsin turn to 2-1-1 for information and support”[10] but within all categories for assistance no category exists for help with hygiene products. We are working to educate both public and private sectors of the need for the provision and funding of these products, and to extend our reach within nonprofit and government organizations as a provider of these products for their clients. To give more credence to the need in our area, we have partnered with UW-Parkside’s market research department.

Since 2017, our Healthy Essentials Pantry program is the only program addressing the need of moderate and low-income families to obtain hygiene products for their entire household, adults, children, infants, and home on a regular basis. Products such as shampoo, deodorant, body wash, hand soap, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, toothbrush, baby bath/shampoo, baby wipes, dishwashing detergent, multi-purpose cleaner, disinfectant wipes, laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, and trash bags. Since its inception, we have served 5,872 Racine, Milwaukee, and Kenosha County households, 68,346 hygiene products through our community hygiene giveaway events and our direct household goods requests. In the first half of 2024, we have already provided 897 families 13,722 hygiene products.

“Hygiene poverty is not just a matter of personal inconvenience; it’s a systemic issue with far-reaching implications for public health. By acknowledging the root causes of hygiene poverty and taking concrete steps to address them, we can create a world where everyone has access to the basic hygiene resources they need to lead healthy lives, and in the event of illness, what they need to recover safely.”[11] Because of your monetary support, collaboration, and volunteering, families in our communities are experiencing the positive effects a clean body has on their physical and mental health, and seeing the removal of social stigmas they faced because of improper hygiene. It’s not about what we’re doing alone, it’s about what we’re doing together.

Sources:
[1] https://study.com/academy/lesson/hygiene-definition-types-importance.html Updated: 10/03/2023
[2] What’s Poverty? Meaning, Causes, and How to Measure https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/poverty.asp
[3] Fast Five Quiz: Hygiene-Related Diseases. Richard H. Sinert, DO. DISCLOSURES May 04, 2021 https://reference.medscape.com/viewarticle/950051?form=fpf
[4] https://www.dettol.co.za/expert-advice/personal-health-hygiene/effects-of-poor-hygiene/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20the%20effects%20of%20poor,as%20diabetes%20and%20heart%20disease
[5] https://childrenincorporated.org/understanding-child-poverty-facts-and-statistics/
[6] Why is personal hygiene important?  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/personal-hygiene Medically reviewed by Deborah Weatherspoon, Ph.D., MSN — By Hana Ames on May 20, 2020
[7] TYPES OF HYGIENE By: Humanitarian Global (HG), November 18, 2021 https://humanitarianglobal.com/types-of-hygiene/
[8] https://www.unicef.org/wash/hygiene#:~:text=Good%20hygiene%20is%20critical%20for,spending%20less%20on%20health%20care
[9] America’s Unspoken Hygiene Crisis
https://tcf.org/content/commentary/americas-unspoken-hygiene-crisis/
[10] https://211wisconsin.communityos.org/whatis211
[11] https://blog.eoscu.com/blog/hygiene-poverty-and-its-impact-on-infection-control-and-prevention