Council funding to help tackle hygiene poverty

Funding of £375 has been granted to The Hygiene Bank North Devon towards the cost of their project which aims to tackle hygiene poverty in North Devon. The grant was made from the council’s Community Councillor Grant (CCG) scheme. The scheme allocates each North Devon district councillor £1,000 per year to award in grants. The grants are available to local voluntary or community groups, clubs or not for profit organisations that benefit the residents or environment of North Devon. The grants can be used to help with equipment costs, activities or just to help with day-to-day running and 

operation costs. The Hygiene Bank is a registered charity and they wish to use the £350 grant money to purchase 500 plain cotton tote bags to deliver the donations to people in need. Sian Barten, Project Co-Ordinator for North Devon, says: “Since setting up the North Devon branch in January this year we have given out 3.5kg of hygiene product into the community. As a newly established branch we are busy raising funds to buy essential products to enable our community partners to get the much-needed hygiene and cleaning products to those most in need. This project is reaching into every community in North Devon, this is not just an urban problem - we are already helping people in isolated areas as well as our local towns.

“We have a great team of volunteers and this team is increasing as we raise our profile across the area. We have been very kindly given warehousing by a local business as we are rapidly growing and supplying product. The product that we give out consists of toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, shaving foam, period product, nappies, children’s toothpaste, face masks, anti bacterial hand gel, household cleaning products, etc.” Leader of North Devon Council, Councillor David Worden, says: “Our CCG Scheme is a popular scheme which provides councillors with the brilliant opportunity to offer grants to groups in their community that will really benefit from the funding and provide vital facilities and services to the residents of North Devon.”

Information about the scheme, including how to apply and details of who has received a grant in the past can be found on the grants page