A hygiene pantry serving free hygienic products opened last week in Urbana, organized by the Coalition of Labor Union Women’s East Central Illinois chapter.
Della Jacobs, president of the CLU-W Hygiene Pantry, spoke to The Daily Illini about its opening.
After retiring from a career at SNAP-Ed, a now-defunded federal nutrition education program for SNAP users, Jacobs wanted to use her free time for good. Over the past fourteen months, Jacobs has worked to open the pantry with fellow SNAP-Ed collaborators, treasurer Tracy Bowden and secretary Vanessa Jones.
“We spend our time going around the low-income community, teaching them how to eat on a low budget,” Jacobs said. “So we knew all the pantries and the population that we wanted to serve.”
Though there are close to 30 food pantries in Champaign-Urbana, this is the first that focuses solely on hygiene products. Jacobs said hers is one of very few hygiene pantries nationwide.
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Community members can visit the pantry Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. This is subject to change as the team works to find the most convenient time for visitors.
Jacobs and her team held four donation drives and briefly collected monetary donations prior to opening, and are working with a limited supply of products. For now, she said, visitors can pick up supplies once a month.
At any given visit, each visitor is allotted two feminine hygiene items, one incontinence item, three haircare items, two oral hygiene items, one toothbrush per person in the household, two body care items, three household items and two miscellaneous hygiene items.
“Everybody is talking affordability,” Jacobs said. “You’re having trouble paying your rent, your car loan, your electricity bill – everything is going up. And we hope that they won’t have to make a decision between paying for health insurance and paying for sanitary products.”
Though the pantry does collect demographic information from visitors, there are no eligibility requirements for using the service.
“We just hope that people are honest and that they’re low-income and really need it,” Jacobs said. “We’re not policing anybody. We’re just going on trust.”
Those interested in supporting the pantry can sign up to volunteer, donate products by coming in during business hours or donate money. Monetary donations can be made online through its website or sent to P.O. Box 131, Savoy, IL 61871.
The pantry is located in the Brookens Administration Building at 1776 E. Washington St., Pod 200, in Urbana. Visitors should use the entrance off of Washington Street, near the baseball field at Prairie Park.
