In times of crisis, such as the current coronavirus pandemic, it's more important than ever to highlight the good in humanity. Kindness, empathy and generosity are essential to get through tough times – as, at the moment, are soap and hand sanitiser. With both in mind, the charity Beauty Banks is urgently appealing for help to provide these essentials, via the #helpinghands campaign.
Beauty Banks was first launched in February 2018 by beauty industry experts, PR Jo Jones and journalist Sali Hughes. The charity accepts donations of basic, much-needed supplies, such as soap and shampoo, all year round, delivering to those who cannot afford or access them.
The pair are currently rallying support in response to the coronavirus pandemic, partnering with Go Fund Me to ask for monetary donations (rather than products as usual, for hygiene reasons). The donations will be used to provide emergency parcels – of soap, hand sanitiser, body wash, hand wash, laundry detergent and tissues – to those who need them most, via Beauty Banks distribution channels. These include food banks, homeless shelters, domestic abuse refuges, youth centres, NHS trusts and refugee centres across the UK.
Hughes appeared on BBC Breakfast this week, to discuss the campaign: "Because we're an existing charity, we work with suppliers already. We think we can get our hands on, certainly for the first drop, a lot of hand sanitiser for people who really, really need it."
"This is the first time lots of us have looked at shelves and thought, 'actually I need something and I can't have it', and so they're better able to relate to people living in poverty, who feel like that quite a lot of the time," Hughes continued.
"I think it's really important in times of crisis... Doing something positive does make you feel a little bit calmer and more in control. It certainly does me."
So far, the #helpinghands campaign has raised more than £82,000, an incredible effort that goes above and beyond their initial £50,000 target. Still, the more donations the better, as Beauty Banks says: "We have two hands - one to help ourselves and one to help others." If you want to contribute, visit Beauty Banks' page at Go Fund Me now.
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