Hey remember that time a few months ago when I blogged about the importance of personal care item closets that offer free hygiene products to financially qualifying families, a la food pantries? Well, a few friends and I had never really thought about a charity offering a service like this – like most people, we just take for granted having access to simple things like toilet paper and soap. So, in order to raise awareness about the need for these kinds of donations – and to help stock the Samaritan Center over at Catholic Charities of Tompkins-Tioga – my friends and I coordinated a drive for personal care products last week.
We tabled for most of the week to advertise for the drive and let people know about the need for donations – after all, families who essentially live off of food stamps can’t apply these government funds toward the purchase of other essential items like diapers, feminine hygiene products, shampoo and laundry detergent. In the end, with assistance from the Ithaca College community, we got four big boxes of donations. And even though that may only go to benefit three or four local families, I think that we made an impact in bringing some exposure to the issue and getting it onto people’s radars.
Alyssa Figueroa
Adam Polaski
Alyssa
