NEW Health & Hygiene Program

Most of us go to the grocery store and put whatever we want in our carts. When people using food stamp benefits go to the grocery store, they must have cash for any non-food items they need, as these items cannot be purchased with food stamps. Consequently, poor families, unemployed persons, and elderly persons on fixed incomes often must do without things that are essential for health and well being; things like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, cold medications, and pain relievers. Lack of these items can cause serious complications in their lives, interfering with their ability to function effectively on a daily basis and potentially leading to serious illness.

A study by researchers at Northwestern University has shown that non-prescription over-the-counter medications such as cough syrups, cold and flu remedies, decongestants and allergy treatments have a significant impact in terms of preventing more serious infections. Consequently, the use of these products can prevent unnecessary physician or emergency room visits, improve work productivity for adults, prevent lost school days for children, and reduce the inappropriate use of prescription drugs. Northwestern researchers estimate that the overall savings from use of over-the-counter medications can be as high as $4.75 billion a year on a national basis.

Persons at risk already for infectious disease, due to conditions of poverty that sometimes prevent them from practicing good hygiene, are more likely to suffer more severe symptoms and long-term consequences of colds, flu and allergies than those who are better able to prevent these conditions or treat them in the early stages. The disadvantaged are the very people who end up in emergency rooms or at clinics with serious symptoms needing treatment they cannot afford.

The Community Storehouse, with the help of God's Pit Crew and other donors, established the Health & Hygiene program to distribute products like those listed above to needy families throughout Southside Virginia. Our clientele, already receiving supplemental food benefits, will in the coming months begin to receive health and hygiene benefits, as a part of our Healthy Families initiative.