The Community Hygiene Pantry is a volunteer effort to help the members of our community who are struggling financially. With inflation, the cost of basic staples from gas to groceries has increased. This includes personal care products. A casual survey of area stores, conducted by the group, indicated that over the past year, the cost of generic toilet paper, diapers, incontinence briefs and feminine products has increased substantially. The more
families spend on personal essentials, the less money they have to spend on food, gas and housing.
To address this need, volunteers, including businesses and community organizations, have come together to hold a collection drive for personal care and hygiene products. Throughout the month of October, product donations are being accepted across Bradford County. The collected products will be used to stock Community Hygiene Pantries in Athens, Wyalusing, Towanda and Troy.
The organizer is Liz Terwilliger, who in 2021, with her husband, Chris, and Terry Johnston, established the first permanent Community Hygiene Pantry behind Mad Hatters Café and Tea Garden in Athens, Pa.
“We make decisions everyday abouyt how to spend our limited funds,” said Terwillliger, “The Community Hygiene Pantries allow neighbors to help neighbors reduce the strain of those decisions, even if it’s just a little.”
Early this past summer, the Terwilligers with the help of Lori Vanderpool and Peg Huyck, established a second Community Hygiene Pantry behind Helping Hands Food Pantry in Wyalusing, Pa. Plans are in the works to establish a Community Hygiene Pantry in Towanda, hosted by the YMCA, and in Troy at a location to be determined.
