Food. Warm clothing. A safe place to stay. 

When it comes to helping people in need, those are some of the essentials that come to mind.

There’s another element that often gets left out of the conversation: personal hygiene. 

Even an act as simple as handwashing can have a significant positive impact on a person’s health and overall wellbeing. Hands are the main surface for disease transmission, according to the World Health Organization, making hand hygiene the most important measure to avoid the transmission of harmful germs and prevent infections. 

That’s why area nonprofits and businesses are working together to help supply people in need with hygiene products that promote health and wellness. 

Launched in 2015, Project Beauty Share provides personal hygiene, cosmetic and beauty products to nonprofit organizations that serve women and families overcoming abuse, addiction, homelessness and poverty. The nonprofit serves 120 agencies in the Inland Northwest, from North Idaho to the Tri-Cities. 

“We’re like a food bank for personal hygiene and beauty products,” said Project Beauty Share founder Julie Farley. 

The nonprofit relies on donations from individuals and businesses to serve populations in need. With donations trending downward this year, partnerships with businesses are becoming more important than ever. 

Mountain Madness Soap Company, based in Coeur d’Alene, is one of Project Beauty Share’s partners. 

The business introduced its “Buy a Bar, Give a Bar” initiative about two years ago, with a goal of helping people maintain good health and hygiene while spreading kindness throughout the community and the region. 

The concept is simple: For every soap bar purchased, Mountain Madness donates a bar of soap to people in need. 

“We believe that soap is a human right and it gives people dignity,” said Jennifer Morsell, Mountain Madness co-owner. “Regardless of people’s situation, we want them to be taken care of in that way.” 

So far, Mountain Madness has donated more than 11,000 bars of soap and is working to identify more organizations that would benefit from donated soap. 

Mountain Madness coordinates with local organizations like Safe Passage and St. Vincent de Paul to identify where the need is greatest. It soon became apparent that soap is one of the most needed items in shelters, along with socks.  

To better leverage resources, Mountain Madness has also partnered with Gr8ter, a Boise-based nonprofit that promotes community, wellness and mental health awareness. The Gr8ter Socks Project delivers kits containing socks and hygiene products to Idahoans in hospitals, schools, shelters, substance abuse programs and other places.  

The “Buy a Bar, Give a Bar” initiative has also provided soap to Hospice of North Idaho.  

“Everybody needs soap,” Morsell said. “Everybody uses soap. We want to make sure we provide it wherever there’s a need.” 

In schools throughout the region, Farley said, the need for hygiene products is growing. Project Beauty Share has collection sites spanning from Hayden Lake to Medical Lake and serves nine school districts, including the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls School Districts. 

“We’re trying to provide these items to school districts so students don’t feel that they have to miss school because they don’t have feminine hygiene products or a stick of deodorant,” Farley said. 

The need for hygiene products is one that many agencies struggle to fill because their budgets are allocated mostly toward other essential needs. 

Project Beauty Share works to fill the gaps, Farley said, providing hope and dignity to people in difficult circumstances. 

“So many organizations spend their dollars on food, clothing and shelter,” Farley said. “If somebody is getting back into the workforce, they want to feel clean and beautiful. What it does for somebody’s self-confidence cannot be understated.”