College of Saint Mary graduate student organizes hygiene product drive
OMAHA, Neb. – When most people consider ways to give assistance to those in need, food and shelter easily come to mind. It’s easy to forget that individuals in need – like those without access to housing – may also lack basic toiletry items. One College of Saint Mary (CSM) student wanted to do something about that. To raise awareness of this issue and provide people with self-care items, CSM graduate student Carly McCulloch '20 recently partnered with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) to organize a hygiene product drive.
“It is too easy to forget how perplexing it is not to have your basic hygiene needs met,” said McCulloch ’20. “This is one little way to say, ‘YOU matter.’”
McCulloch, who is in CSM’s Master of Arts in Teaching program, first heard about the pantry from a friend of hers who works at UNMC in the Specialty Care Center. Her friend actually started the pantry after she noticed that many of her patients lacked access to basic hygiene items and felt embarrassed because of it.
“Rachelle [Carr] felt that she could do more to meet their needs than simply conducting their appointment and sending them on their way,” McCulloch explained.
McCulloch got involved with the pantry last fall and even organized a hygiene product drive at Millard North Middle School, where she works. She asked the staff to donate self-care supplies and had volunteers write little notes with kind and uplifting messages on them. Once all the items were collected, McCulloch assembled them into care packs for men and women with 7-10 hygiene products and a note per care pack. She personally delivered the care packs and the leftover supplies to the UNMC Specialty Care Center unit last fall.
“To help a person when they are down is the least we could do,” said McCulloch.
The hygiene pantry at UNMC is made available to patients at the Specialty Care Center and is not open to the general public. It provides necessities such as combs, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, deodorant, and feminine hygiene products.
Two aspects of the CSM mission are recognizing the dignity of all people and providing compassionate service, and McCulloch’s hygiene product drive and care packs fit right in with that.
“My friend’s act of kindness in helping where she saw help was needed was so touching,” McCulloch said. “I feel honored to have joined in her cause to lift someone up and to have shown grace, compassion and love where it was so needed.”
McCulloch plans to graduate in December of 2020, and was just hired to teach sixth grade English at Millard North Middle school starting in August. To learn more about the great things students are doing in the community or about CSM’s Master of Arts in Teaching program, go to CSM.edu.
