February 22, 2025 • 12 mins
In places like Massachusetts where the cost of living is higher than average, many low-income families are having to make a difficult choice each day: pay critical bills and buy food, or pick up hygiene necessities like soap and toothbrushes. Often, the heat and food win out, but that's where Needham's Hope and Comfort Hygiene Hub comes in, making sure families in need are connected to hygiene supplies - even working with local schools to do it. Kerry Carter, the CEO of Hope and Comfort Hygiene Hub, returns to the show to talk about a new grant they received that will help them distribute these items to hundreds of kids in the Chelsea Public Schools.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together, we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. Great to be back with you again.
As always, I'm Nicole Davis. A dollar definitely does not
go as far as it used to these days, especially
here in Massachusetts where we have a pretty high cost
(00:28):
of living. More people than you might imagine have to
make a choice each and every day. Do I put
food on the table and pay my heat bill or
do I go buy soap and shampoo At the Hope
and Comfort Hygiene Hub in Needham, they're dedicated to making
sure as many people as possible have the basics to
help them stay healthy and clean. Carrie Carter, the CEO
of the Hope and Comfort Hygiene Hub, is back on
(00:50):
the show to talk about this. Carrie, it's great to
be with you again. And for people who didn't hear
your last interview with us, give us a quick rundown
about the work you do and the situation.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Sure. So, the issue of hygiene insecurity is a hidden crisis,
and what it means is people who are experiencing hygiene
insecurity is they don't have regular access to products like
soap and toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorant, menstrual products, laundry detergent.
(01:21):
And in Massachusetts there's over two million people who are
experiencing hygiene insecurity, so it is a huge, huge problem.
One of the things that happens is that when you
don't have access to these products, people are impacted in
negative ways, such as you know, it can really impact
health such as mental health and physical health. It can
(01:45):
impact their people's ability to get a job, and also
impacts kids and youths. They don't go to school as
much if they don't have these products because they don't
want to risk being the different kid or the kid
who stands out because they just don't look or smell clean.
And that's really tough.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah. Yeah, and hygiene insecurity. I feel like people might think, oh, well,
they just don't have anything at all, but it's it
could be little things too, like running out of shampoo
and not really sure when you're going to be able
to buy another bottle, or not being able to wash
your clothes as often as you'd like, or even sharing
one toothbrush amongst several kids.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, and you know, what on the toothbrush example, you shared,
we hear that, We hear that a lot, and you're
absolutely right. It's that's where the word insecurity I think
comes in. You know, people are making tough decisions right now.
It's the middle of winter here in Massachusetts, and people
are deciding, you know, how am I going to spend
my money? Am I going to spend it on rent?
Am I going to spend it on heat? Am I
(02:46):
going to spend it on food? And then there's also,
you know, the next basic need, which is being clean
so you can show up in society. So you're absolutely right,
it isn't not having it consist, it's just not having
it sometimes in some certain cases with people.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, prices on everything are super expensive right now as well.
I mean inflation, we talk about that. But really, you
go to the grocery store and you might have to
choose between getting yourself the shampoo or whatever you need
and feeding your kids. That's got to be a really
tough choice for parents and really anybody involved here.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh, just a horrible choice. You know, you always have
to choose food first, and that's just how we are
as human. So imagine thinking about that. Okay, I have
to buy these food the food for my family, and
now I've got to make another decision. Are we going
to pay for heat or are we going to pay
for you know, these products that my kids can go
(03:44):
to school and not be shamed or shunned by other
people or feel as though they are going to be
because they just stand out because of how they look.
It's a really tough situation, and frankly, people don't really
want to talk about it because of a little bit
of a taboo about it, like people who don't smell
(04:05):
or look clean, and that makes it even more difficult.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, I didn't realize until the last time you and
I chatted here on the show that hygiene items like this,
I was under the belief that it would be covered
by SNAP or WICK or EBT. That's not the case though, right,
You are right.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
None of these items like soap and toothpaste, toothbrushes, mestrual products,
they are not covered by SNAP or what we used
to call food stamps, or WICK, the program that supports
the federal program that supports women, infants, and children. So
no people who are struggling or have to figure this
out on their own, there's no helping hand in this
(04:44):
particular situation from at the federal level.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You are there on the front lines trying to tackle
this issue, which is a pretty big one. Tell me
a little bit about Hope and Comfort Hygiene Hub, and
I guess the history of what you've been doing.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So we started in twenty eleven and started rather out
of our founder's garage and have expanded to the point
where in twenty twenty four we distributed five million products
across the state of Massachusetts. So in essence, what we
are is a nonprofit distributor. What we partner with community
(05:21):
organizations across the state, and those organizations could be schools
or community colleges, food banks, food pantries, youth organizations like
boys and girls clubs, and they will come to we've
got three different warehouses. They'll come most of them will
come to our warehouse space and need them, and they'll
(05:42):
bring the products back to their communities where they have
a trusted relationship with the people in their communities, and
the people there know that they can go to their school,
you know, nurse or whomever to get the products that
they need. And it's a model that's worked really well
for us, and the most amazing thing about the number
five million products is that we estimate that's helped about
(06:04):
five hundred thousand people, five hundred thousand people across the
state of Massachusetts who needed a helping hand when it
comes to these getting access to these products. Have been
able to do that by partnering with us at Hope
and Comfort Hygiene Hub.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Wow, that's incredible. And are you working with any other
state organizations, community organizations to get this out there?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
We are as a matter of fact, we get grants
from a lot of different organizations. We actually got money
from the State of Massachusetts some money last year which
we were super excited about. And our most recent grant
has been from the MGH Community Health Impact Fund, which
(06:46):
there's twenty organizations of which we are one of them,
that receive funding through this particular grant program. And what
they were really looking to do was to support youth
in what they called innovative youth well being intervention. So
this was under the branch of this particular grant for
(07:07):
mental and behavioral health. So we were funded for this
for two years to expand our outreach in the Chelsea
Public School. So with the grant, we were already doing
some work with the high school there. With the grant,
we're going to be able to fully fund two additional
middle schools, which is about two thousand kids. And we
(07:28):
know that there are going to be more kids who
are going to go to school number one. And maybe
some of the kids went to school before even though
they didn't have consistent access, but they didn't have that
sense of confidence. We know that kids are going to
go to school more, They're going to participate in sports more,
or other activities like drama or debate club or whatever
(07:50):
it is. It gets them excited to interact with their peers.
So we're so excited about this grant and so grateful
to MGH for supplying it to Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And with that money you can actually do a lot
of good because I think if you were to give
the money to just you know, some Joe Schmo like
me and I walked into the store and I, you know,
buy a bunch of hygiene supplies, that's one thing. But
with your connections, is it true that you can get
a little bit more product or you can get some
really good discounts on product to get more out there?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, absolutely, So with the amount of
product that we buy, we buy in bulk, Like we
buy our soap from a fantastic supplier down a Rhode
Island and we buy it by the trailer. We'll buy
several trailers of soap, so we're buying it at discount
bulk prices, which is far better than if you or
(08:40):
I walked into a CBS and bought it at our
retail price. So yeah, we're able to really buy it
a much better way than the average person. Okay, so
we can help more kids.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
That's the most important thing, right is getting these kids
clean and happy and healthy and getting them back to class.
I mean fun fact, I actually did a citizen schools
program in one of the Chelsea Middle schools. A lot
of great kids there, and so this is going to
make a huge difference.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We're so excited and the people in the Chelsea Public
schools are just fantastic partners and it's a wonderful community.
So we're excited to work with them.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So how can people then work with you if they
want to volunteer, maybe donate. What do you need right
now to get this out there or continue to get
these hygiene products out there?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
The most important thing or the most helpful thing I
guess I should say that people could do is to donate,
and that is because, as you just pointed out, with
our purchasing power, our buying power, we can buy better
than the average person. So it's really easy to donate.
You just go to our website, which is HC hygiene
(09:54):
hub dot org and donate through that. We're so appreciative.
We've got so many different people and different groups across
the state that support us. We'd love to have you
join our movement to and hygiene and security in Massachusetts
and have more people be able to go to school
and go to work and just engage in their communities.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So maybe somebody working for a local company is listening
and they're looking for a good volunteer opportunity. Do you
need assistance with that?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Oh my gosh. We love working with our corporate partners.
We work with businesses small and large every week and
we have these partners who will come in and they
support us financially as well as with volunteer or and
it's really a great partnership. So yes, if there's any
(10:44):
business that is interested in helping, they can go to
our website as well and see a volunteer section. On
there and.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Perhaps if somebody is listening and they need products. Obviously
you work with schools and big organizations, but if somebody,
an individual needs a product, can they work with you
on that as well.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
No, So we are a distributor. We work through our
network of we have five hundred partners across the state
that we work with. So we distributed products in every
single town across the state last year pretty much. So
it's really through your local you know, your local food
(11:26):
pantry or school. Now, to be perfectly transparent, we are
not covering the need across the state. That's why we're
always looking for additional support. We're only covering about five
percent of the need even though we distributed five million products.
So the best bet is to go through local organizations
in a community. If you're someone who needs.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
This help, okay, that's good to know, my goodness, all right.
So then if people want to get in touch with
you website, social media, phone number, so on and so forth,
how can they do that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
They can go right onto our website and contact that's there.
And we'd love to have people follow us as well.
You know, we're on social media with Facebook and Instagram
and LinkedIn and We're constantly sharing stories about how having
access to these products can really be transformational to people's lives,
and we'd love to share the joy for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
All Right, well, Kerrie, thank you again for all the
work you're doing in our communities and making sure that
our kids have the products they need to go to school.
And I hope this year is just as successful, if
not more, for you.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Have a wonderful warm weekend, stay warm and cozy, and
be sure to join us again next week for another
edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News
Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together, we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. Great to be back with you again.
As always, I'm Nicole Davis. A dollar definitely does not
go as far as it used to these days, especially
here in Massachusetts where we have a pretty high cost
(00:28):
of living. More people than you might imagine have to
make a choice each and every day. Do I put
food on the table and pay my heat bill or
do I go buy soap and shampoo At the Hope
and Comfort Hygiene Hub in Needham, they're dedicated to making
sure as many people as possible have the basics to
help them stay healthy and clean. Carrie Carter, the CEO
of the Hope and Comfort Hygiene Hub, is back on
(00:50):
the show to talk about this. Carrie, it's great to
be with you again. And for people who didn't hear
your last interview with us, give us a quick rundown
about the work you do and the situation.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Sure. So, the issue of hygiene insecurity is a hidden crisis,
and what it means is people who are experiencing hygiene
insecurity is they don't have regular access to products like
soap and toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorant, menstrual products, laundry detergent.
(01:21):
And in Massachusetts there's over two million people who are
experiencing hygiene insecurity, so it is a huge, huge problem.
One of the things that happens is that when you
don't have access to these products, people are impacted in
negative ways, such as you know, it can really impact
health such as mental health and physical health. It can
(01:45):
impact their people's ability to get a job, and also
impacts kids and youths. They don't go to school as
much if they don't have these products because they don't
want to risk being the different kid or the kid
who stands out because they just don't look or smell clean.
And that's really tough.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah. Yeah, and hygiene insecurity. I feel like people might think, oh, well,
they just don't have anything at all, but it's it
could be little things too, like running out of shampoo
and not really sure when you're going to be able
to buy another bottle, or not being able to wash
your clothes as often as you'd like, or even sharing
one toothbrush amongst several kids.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, and you know, what on the toothbrush example, you shared,
we hear that, We hear that a lot, and you're
absolutely right. It's that's where the word insecurity I think
comes in. You know, people are making tough decisions right now.
It's the middle of winter here in Massachusetts, and people
are deciding, you know, how am I going to spend
my money? Am I going to spend it on rent?
Am I going to spend it on heat? Am I
(02:46):
going to spend it on food? And then there's also,
you know, the next basic need, which is being clean
so you can show up in society. So you're absolutely right,
it isn't not having it consist, it's just not having
it sometimes in some certain cases with people.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, prices on everything are super expensive right now as well.
I mean inflation, we talk about that. But really, you
go to the grocery store and you might have to
choose between getting yourself the shampoo or whatever you need
and feeding your kids. That's got to be a really
tough choice for parents and really anybody involved here.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh, just a horrible choice. You know, you always have
to choose food first, and that's just how we are
as human. So imagine thinking about that. Okay, I have
to buy these food the food for my family, and
now I've got to make another decision. Are we going
to pay for heat or are we going to pay
for you know, these products that my kids can go
(03:44):
to school and not be shamed or shunned by other
people or feel as though they are going to be
because they just stand out because of how they look.
It's a really tough situation, and frankly, people don't really
want to talk about it because of a little bit
of a taboo about it, like people who don't smell
(04:05):
or look clean, and that makes it even more difficult.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, I didn't realize until the last time you and
I chatted here on the show that hygiene items like this,
I was under the belief that it would be covered
by SNAP or WICK or EBT. That's not the case though, right,
You are right.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
None of these items like soap and toothpaste, toothbrushes, mestrual products,
they are not covered by SNAP or what we used
to call food stamps, or WICK, the program that supports
the federal program that supports women, infants, and children. So
no people who are struggling or have to figure this
out on their own, there's no helping hand in this
(04:44):
particular situation from at the federal level.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You are there on the front lines trying to tackle
this issue, which is a pretty big one. Tell me
a little bit about Hope and Comfort Hygiene Hub, and
I guess the history of what you've been doing.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So we started in twenty eleven and started rather out
of our founder's garage and have expanded to the point
where in twenty twenty four we distributed five million products
across the state of Massachusetts. So in essence, what we
are is a nonprofit distributor. What we partner with community
(05:21):
organizations across the state, and those organizations could be schools
or community colleges, food banks, food pantries, youth organizations like
boys and girls clubs, and they will come to we've
got three different warehouses. They'll come most of them will
come to our warehouse space and need them, and they'll
(05:42):
bring the products back to their communities where they have
a trusted relationship with the people in their communities, and
the people there know that they can go to their school,
you know, nurse or whomever to get the products that
they need. And it's a model that's worked really well
for us, and the most amazing thing about the number
five million products is that we estimate that's helped about
(06:04):
five hundred thousand people, five hundred thousand people across the
state of Massachusetts who needed a helping hand when it
comes to these getting access to these products. Have been
able to do that by partnering with us at Hope
and Comfort Hygiene Hub.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Wow, that's incredible. And are you working with any other
state organizations, community organizations to get this out there?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
We are as a matter of fact, we get grants
from a lot of different organizations. We actually got money
from the State of Massachusetts some money last year which
we were super excited about. And our most recent grant
has been from the MGH Community Health Impact Fund, which
(06:46):
there's twenty organizations of which we are one of them,
that receive funding through this particular grant program. And what
they were really looking to do was to support youth
in what they called innovative youth well being intervention. So
this was under the branch of this particular grant for
(07:07):
mental and behavioral health. So we were funded for this
for two years to expand our outreach in the Chelsea
Public School. So with the grant, we were already doing
some work with the high school there. With the grant,
we're going to be able to fully fund two additional
middle schools, which is about two thousand kids. And we
(07:28):
know that there are going to be more kids who
are going to go to school number one. And maybe
some of the kids went to school before even though
they didn't have consistent access, but they didn't have that
sense of confidence. We know that kids are going to
go to school more, They're going to participate in sports more,
or other activities like drama or debate club or whatever
(07:50):
it is. It gets them excited to interact with their peers.
So we're so excited about this grant and so grateful
to MGH for supplying it to Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And with that money you can actually do a lot
of good because I think if you were to give
the money to just you know, some Joe Schmo like
me and I walked into the store and I, you know,
buy a bunch of hygiene supplies, that's one thing. But
with your connections, is it true that you can get
a little bit more product or you can get some
really good discounts on product to get more out there?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, absolutely, So with the amount of
product that we buy, we buy in bulk, Like we
buy our soap from a fantastic supplier down a Rhode
Island and we buy it by the trailer. We'll buy
several trailers of soap, so we're buying it at discount
bulk prices, which is far better than if you or
(08:40):
I walked into a CBS and bought it at our
retail price. So yeah, we're able to really buy it
a much better way than the average person. Okay, so
we can help more kids.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
That's the most important thing, right is getting these kids
clean and happy and healthy and getting them back to class.
I mean fun fact, I actually did a citizen schools
program in one of the Chelsea Middle schools. A lot
of great kids there, and so this is going to
make a huge difference.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We're so excited and the people in the Chelsea Public
schools are just fantastic partners and it's a wonderful community.
So we're excited to work with them.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So how can people then work with you if they
want to volunteer, maybe donate. What do you need right
now to get this out there or continue to get
these hygiene products out there?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
The most important thing or the most helpful thing I
guess I should say that people could do is to donate,
and that is because, as you just pointed out, with
our purchasing power, our buying power, we can buy better
than the average person. So it's really easy to donate.
You just go to our website, which is HC hygiene
(09:54):
hub dot org and donate through that. We're so appreciative.
We've got so many different people and different groups across
the state that support us. We'd love to have you
join our movement to and hygiene and security in Massachusetts
and have more people be able to go to school
and go to work and just engage in their communities.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So maybe somebody working for a local company is listening
and they're looking for a good volunteer opportunity. Do you
need assistance with that?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Oh my gosh. We love working with our corporate partners.
We work with businesses small and large every week and
we have these partners who will come in and they
support us financially as well as with volunteer or and
it's really a great partnership. So yes, if there's any
(10:44):
business that is interested in helping, they can go to
our website as well and see a volunteer section. On
there and.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Perhaps if somebody is listening and they need products. Obviously
you work with schools and big organizations, but if somebody,
an individual needs a product, can they work with you
on that as well.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
No, So we are a distributor. We work through our
network of we have five hundred partners across the state
that we work with. So we distributed products in every
single town across the state last year pretty much. So
it's really through your local you know, your local food
(11:26):
pantry or school. Now, to be perfectly transparent, we are
not covering the need across the state. That's why we're
always looking for additional support. We're only covering about five
percent of the need even though we distributed five million products.
So the best bet is to go through local organizations
in a community. If you're someone who needs.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
This help, okay, that's good to know, my goodness, all right.
So then if people want to get in touch with
you website, social media, phone number, so on and so forth,
how can they do that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
They can go right onto our website and contact that's there.
And we'd love to have people follow us as well.
You know, we're on social media with Facebook and Instagram
and LinkedIn and We're constantly sharing stories about how having
access to these products can really be transformational to people's lives,
and we'd love to share the joy for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
All Right, well, Kerrie, thank you again for all the
work you're doing in our communities and making sure that
our kids have the products they need to go to school.
And I hope this year is just as successful, if
not more, for you.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Have a wonderful warm weekend, stay warm and cozy, and
be sure to join us again next week for another
edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News
Radio on iHeartRadio.
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