Unopened toothbrushes, deodorants or shampoos taking up space in the cupboard? Consider dropping them off at the United Way Greater Victoria’s Neighbourhood Response Team’s hygiene product drive – the Keep it Clean Collection.
The Neighbourhood Response Team was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by United Way Greater Victoria in partnership with the Better Business Bureau, Big Brothers Big Sisters Greater Victoria, the HeroWork Society and Soap for Hope Canada, said Jennifer Young, project and content manager for United Way Greater Victoria.
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Keep it Clean Collection is the team’s second collection drive during the pandemic. The first collection drive took place in early April when members of the Greater Victoria community helped fill a 20-foot container with 640 tents, sleeping bags, tarps and sleeping mats for the region’s homeless who’d been diverted to Topaz Park after many shelters shut down due to the health crisis.
This time around, the community is asked to collect their new, unused toothbrushes, shampoos, lotions, deodorants and any other personal hygiene products they can part with, and safely drop them off at one of three collection sites in the region on April 25.
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From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the last Saturday in April, the team will be stationed in the parking lot of Westshore Learning Centre in Colwood (2139 Sooke Road), the parking lot of Tulista Park in Sidney (9565 Fifth Street) and in the parking lot of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria (1925 Blanshard Street).
In the name of safety and preventing the spread of the virus, donors are asked to only attend if they are feeling healthy and when they arrive, they’ll simply drive up, pop their trunks and remain in their vehicles, Young explained.
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She also recommends that donors combine their product drop-off with other errands to reduce the amount of time they’re out of the house.
The Neighbourhood Response Team’s Keep it Clean Collection goal is to bring in at 2,500 unopened hygiene products including shampoo, hair conditioner, body wash, lotion, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, sunscreen, razors, menstrual products and incontinence products.
The donated products will be quarantined for five days to prevent the spread of the virus before being delivered to those in need, Young said.
– With files from Nicole Crescenzi
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