Help tackle hygiene poverty by walking 500 miles

Did you know that one in five people living in the West Midlands are in poverty and due to the pandemic, this rate is steadily rising? In the West Midlands, 20% of people live in a low-income household, bringing in less than 60% of today's average income in 2020. More and more people are finding themselves in restricted options, deciding between either heating their home, paying their rent, buying food, or keeping clean. Now you may be wondering what do a group of youths have to say about this? Well here's what we say: This is unacceptable!

We at Period. aim to tackle hygiene poverty within our community.

Every Saturday, we volunteer at a shelter where we are responsible for the packaging and distribution of hot food packages. However, there have been many times when someone would come up to us and ask if we had any hygiene products such as toothpaste, deodorant, hand sanitiser, shampoo etc. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, there had been a shortage of hygiene products donated to the shelters so we often had to return to them with nothing but apologies for not providing them with any hygiene essentials. This was very concerning to all of us and quite disheartening to see how simple hygiene products can massively impact someone's life, but we were unable to provide any support. This is why we decided to do something about this!

We have set ourselves a challenge of walking 500 miles (the equivalent to 1,000,000 steps) in 11 days, with the sole aim of reducing hygiene poverty in the West Midlands. All donations received will go directly into buying the necessary hygiene products and distributing it around shelters (with the help of an institute who are actively involved within the community). These hygiene essentials will then be organised into care packages that take into account people's situations and needs, making sure that each package will provide people with the maximum benefit.

We encourage anyone to help us fundraise by joining in with this event - It does not matter how far you walk nor how much money you raise. Anything donated is still an achievement! If you are interested in helping us tackle Hygiene Poverty, then all you need to do is:
1) Send us an email
2) We will contact you with more details about the event
3) Raise as much as you can!

We hope that you will join in with this challenge and help us reach our target of £4,500. If you cannot join in then please donate! Every extra pound you give can help change someone's life for the better. Hygiene poverty is such a prevalent issue but no one really knows too much about it, since it is not something many of us have experienced; We have been lucky to not have to worry about buying either soap or toothpaste - We have the luxury of buying both. Hygiene poverty can be shaming, humiliating and excluding, often resulting in social isolation. It can lead to a lack of confidence and can negatively affect the health and mental well-being of people, especially young children. It can lead to future struggles with learning, employability, social interaction and early childhood development. It’s time we address Hygiene Poverty!

Please join us and help us tackle Hygiene Poverty because only by working together do we stand a chance of making a difference!

Thank you for your time and remember to click 'Donate'. All donations, no matter the size, will go towards helping those who need it.

The Period. Team:
Zayn Aziz
Aman Aziz
Alisha Ahmad
Amaan Ukaye
Safiyyah Sa’Diya