The Hygiene Bank

The Hygiene Bank say:

The Hygiene Bank was established in 2018 by our founder Lizzy Hall, following a stark realisation of how dire relative poverty is in the UK. A spontaneous spark of empathy that ignited a national charity and social movement. Five years on, we have grown from initial coverage in Sevenoaks, Kent to now covering over 200 towns/ cities within the UK. Our mission to fight hygiene poverty is taken up in some of the UK’s deepest areas of deprivation.

What is Hygiene Poverty? 

It is not being able to afford many of the everyday products for hygiene and personal care, that most of us take for granted. The reality of low income is that it restricts people’s options, leaving us caught between being able to heat our homes, pay the rent, eat or be clean.  

The Hygiene Bank are a crisis-point, direct action charity working in partnership with hundreds of grassroots/ community organisations to distribute hygiene products to those in hygiene poverty across the UK. We bring communities, businesses and thought leaders together to tackle hygiene poverty by giving access to products and being a voice for change.

We were able to utilise the grant from The Purey Cust Trust to secure our storage facilities for 12 months and also purchase hygiene products for our community partners. The funding was exclusively utilised to support our community partners in York.

We support those across the City of York who are experiencing financial difficulties and may otherwise go without essential hygiene products, including families, children, young and older people, people with disabilities, and those experiencing homelessness. We always hear from our community partners about the positive impact our donations have on their clients physical and mental wellbeing, confidence and self-worth.

Thanks to the grant from The Purey Cust Trust we were able to lessen the financial burdens individuals and families experiencing poverty carry by providing hygiene products.