Emma Thomas is the volunteer project coordinator for The Hygiene Bank Medway, a charity whose mission is to alleviate hygiene poverty. Here we will look at how The Hygiene Bank Medway helps local people and how Cinch Self Storage Gillingham has been of help. 

The Hygiene Bank Medway helps local people by collecting donations of new and unused cleaning and toiletry items and hygiene products. They are collected, sorted through and then redistributed to a network of community partners in the area of Medway. 

The History Of The Hygiene Bank 

The Hygiene Bank was founded by Lizzy Hall, in 2019, after she watched the Ken Loach film ‘I, Daniel Blake’, which shows the harsh realities of the people in society falling through the cracks. In one scene, single mother Katie is caught shoplifting period pads, deodorant and razors because she simply cannot afford to buy them. 

Realising this was not simply a scene in a film but that hygiene poverty is a real thing happening to real people, Lizzy put out a plea for hygiene and personal care products to her friends on WhatsApp. The reaction was overwhelming as donations flooded in. Lizzy realised she had tapped into people’s desire to help. All she had to do was find a way to facilitate this and, within a few weeks, The Hygiene Bank was born. 

The Hygiene Bank now has projects up and down the country, including The Hygiene Bank Medway which was started by Emma in November 2019. 

How The Hygiene Bank Medway Helps The Local Community 

The Hygiene Bank Medway collects donations of new or unused cleaning and toiletry products, which are then sorted through and sent onto community partners in the area of Medway. 

The Hygiene Bank Medway works with 45 community partners, including homeless charities, domestic violence charities, family charities and schools. They work with partners as it means they don’t have to use a referral process or assess anyone’s needs. Each of their partners go through a strict sign-up with eligibility criteria with the main head office so they know they are supporting those in need. 

This all helps to tackle hygiene poverty in the local area which is a large problem. Each month the Medway team alone distributes over 1000 kgs of items a month to roughly 500 households which works out at over 4000 people gaining help via the Medway project. 

What Is Hygiene Poverty? 

Hygiene poverty is when you are not able to afford to buy everyday hygiene items and personal grooming products that many of us take for granted, such as shampoo, laundry detergent, period products, toothpaste and nappies. 

Hygiene poverty makes people feel embarrassed and restricts their opportunity to fully participate in society. It can have a negative impact on people’s mental and physical health and lead to people stopping attending school or college, losing their jobs or having to resort to making impossible choices – heat their homes, buy food, pay rent or keep clean. 

As Emma told us in her case study interview:

“Long before people reach out to food banks, people will stop buying hygiene and cleaning items because you can go without shampoo, washing up liquid and laundry detergent but you shouldn’t have to.” 

You should not have to go without basic hygiene items and The Hygiene Bank Medway (and all the other Hygiene Banks across the UK) are helping to make sure people have access to these types of products. 

How Cinch Self Storage Gillingham Has Helped 

Emma began The Hygiene Bank Medway in 2020 from her garage. As the years passed, the project grew as word spread. It became very apparent that she could no longer do it on her own and that she could no longer run it from her home. 

She found other volunteers who were ready and willing to help and, for a time, she used another self storage company. In the early months of 2024, The Hygiene Bank Medway was in crisis with real worries that they may have to close. The self storage company she was using was not interested in helping by lowering the monthly rates. This is when Emma got in touch with Cinch Self Storage Gillingham. 

“I reached out to Cinch Self Storage Gillingham and the team were very keen to support us and see what they could do. They offered us a preferential rate and we moved in. It works perfectly. We probably would have closed if they hadn’t come to our rescue.”  

How You Can Help The Hygiene Bank Medway 

If you are local to the area, there are donation bins in the area, including one at Cinch Self Storage Gillingham. People can go to the website, do a postcode search and find your most convenient drop off location. 

Other ways you can help is via their Wishlist, Just Giving page or by donating on the website. Monetary donations are vital to the survival of the project as it enables The Hygiene Bank Medway to purchase the items they are short of and provide a more complete solution for others in their community. 

The Hygiene Bank Medway is always looking for other ways to collaborate with other local businesses and organisations, as they have with Cinch Self Storage Gillingham, so please get in touch if you would potentially like to partner with them. 

And our fellow storage companies can help by offering their support to the charity: 

“Others should follow your [Cinch Self Storage Gillingham] lead. There are projects all over the country who are struggling for storage. If storage companies help and collaborate with us, it becomes one big team effort. It makes our work possible.” 

To find out more about The Hygiene Bank Medway, please visit their website, Instagram or Facebook page. 

To find out more about Cinch Self Storage Gillingham, please click here.