Bridge to Basics

This week we experienced an amazing gift. Bell Bank Woodbury hosted a hygiene drive for us as they celebrated their 10th anniversary. This gift of support and amplification of our mission was incredibly meaningful. Then this happened. A community member recognized us and made a significant donation at the bank. 💓 Then this happened. Bell team members stepped up to match and >>Pay it Forward>> In addition to two large barrels OVERFLOWING with personal care items, Bell donated $2,250 to help make hygiene more accessible to neighbors struggling to afford these daily essentials. There are so many reasons to feel grateful — from the initial hygiene drive and its donors, to the incredible generosity of an individual to the compounding gift of Bell employees. We are so fortunate to have a wonderful team of truly good people at Bell championing our work and personally engaging every step of our journey. Thank you, Bell Woodbury team for your advocacy, support and relationship-focused banking. You truly are our partners in creating thriving communities. #hygiene4all

In partnership with our nonprofit network, we work to support more basic needs of struggling neighbors. We help food shelves stock their shelves, schools fill hygiene closets, social workers distribute personal care items, housing providers create essentials storage rooms and refugee services make welcome care bags for new neighbors. Our work compliments -- and amplifies -- the feeding, teaching, healing, housing, and nurturing of our nonprofit partners. Together, we create thriving communities. #hygiene4all

Thank you to CPC - Colder Products Company for leaning into the issue of hygiene insecurity. During their Global Tech Summit, the team built hundreds of hygiene kits for unhoused and housing insecure students, individuals and families. 🙌 🙌 Thank you so much, CPC! We appreciate your support and will be getting the kits out this month. cc: Bryan Rogers thanks for your patience with taking the photo and help loading the vehicle!

#NationalHygieneWeek and #HygieneInsecurityWeek just so happens to coincide with the end of our inaugural tax year. Thanks to the generosity of individuals, businesses, foundations and community organizations, we have begun to make strides in addressing #hygieneinsecurity in our community. Since May 2024, we have been able to: 🤝 Support 12 nonprofit organizations with hygiene items 🧴Provide 45,175 hygiene items to struggling students, individuals and families 💗Amplify the impact of nonprofits by allowing them to stay mission focused In partnership with our nonprofit network, we work tirelessly with energy, passion and drive toward our vision: Everyone has access to essential hygiene products, empowering healthy and thriving individuals, families and communities. #Hygiene4all 🫶 Join us today at https://lnkd.in/gWRRYdQX 🫶 Together, we create thriving communities Open Cupboard BASIC NEEDS INC OF SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY SoWashCo CARES Neighbors, Inc. Solid Ground MN Project REACH & Fostering Connections (SPPS) EXPO Elementary (SPPS) Kenwood Elementary (MPS) Friends in Need Food Shelf The H.O.P.E. Project Community Blessings Lutheran Social Service Refugee Services

Did you know that more than 1 in 10 food shelf shoppers miss school, work or an activity because they don’t have hygiene items like body wash, laundry detergent or period products? Absenteeism due to hygiene insecurity was shared by 12% of Open Cupboard shoppers in a recent survey. Each month, 12% shared they missed school, work or an activity because they don’t have hygiene items. (Yes, we are repeating ourselves so that this sinks in.) While this week is #NationalHygieneWeek, every day we should be working to support more basic hygiene needs of struggling neighbors to create a thriving community where folks are present, healthy and comfortable. #hygieneishealth #Hygiene4all #HygieneInsecurityWeek

Feeding America did a deep dive into #hygieneinsecurity in 2012 and found that 58% of respondents bought less food to be able to purchase hygiene items like laundry detergent and personal care items. Our recent survey with Open Cupboard shoppers echoed this same tradeoff of purchasing less food in order to buy hygiene essentials for themselves and their families. With hygiene insecurity going hand-in-hand with food insecurity, this #HygieneInsecurityWeek find out how you can help by visiting https://lnkd.in/g2uytmhZ

Hygiene is health. “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” World Health Organization We have heard from social workers, educators, health care coordinators, family advocates and other professionals about the importance of personal hygiene - as #NationalHygieneWeek communications highlight. Access to these daily essentials allows people to start and end their day physically, emotionally and socially empowered to be a student, employee and community member — ready to be and give their best. With the high costs of hygiene items, the inability to purchase essentials like deodorant and body wash with SNAP, WIC or other benefit program dollars and the lack of access for struggling individuals from social service organizations to these items, we have a hidden crisis of #hygieneinsecurity. This #HygieneInsecurityWeek, remember it takes all of us to support more basic needs when resources and support services are limited for struggling neighbors. #Hygiene4all

Today begins #NationalHygieneWeek. Each day, we work to provide individuals experiencing hygiene insecurity with these daily essentials. In light of this, we are pivoting and calling this week #HygieneInsecurityWeek and will share the realities of #hygieneinsecurity in the Twin Cities. In August, we partnered with Open Cupboard on a survey to understand the hygiene needs of their shoppers. Our goal was to discover the needs, barriers, tradeoffs and harms hygiene insecurity has on struggling neighbors. It’s only a start, but the findings both echo and amplify the last deep dive on the issue conducted by Feeding America twelve years ago. We invite you to review the findings in the carousel of graphics below or dig into the summary report here >>https://lnkd.in/gRyuapaZ

Whew! It’s been a really busy September, but WOW, it feels really good! Over 25,000 hygiene items were distributed to our school, food shelf, housing and community-focused nonprofit partners. An abundance of daily essentials made their way to struggling community members -- period and incontinence products, diapers, body, hair and oral care items and laundry detergent. The generosity of our supporters made this possible. 👏 Thank you! 👏 We are endlessly grateful, energized and motivated. #Hygiene4all 

👏 👏 HUGE thank you to our friends at Ridwell for selecting us as the nonprofit recipient for your September hygiene drive. Twin Cities members gave and gave and gave....in fact, we are still adding up the abundance of hygiene items! We couldn't let math slow us down, so as quickly as we could count, we were boxing items up and getting them out to hygiene insecure neighbors. Thank you to The H.O.P.E Project and Open Cupboard for picking up hygiene items ranging from full and personal size hygiene items, menstrual products and incontinence care provisions. More items will be going out shortly through the rest of our nonprofit network. Thank you again, Ridwell and your incredible members! #hygiene4all