Last updated on July 1st, 2025 at 01:50 pm
“This is no time to be discreet about hygiene poverty”, says Serena van der Meulen, Project Coordinator at The Hygiene Bank Doncaster.
As a busy mum and business owner, nobody would have expected Serena to take on more responsibilities – but tackling hygiene poverty was one issue she couldn’t turn her back on. “I was scrolling through Instagram back in 2019 and saw a post about a Hygiene Bank drop-off point, and I instantly knew this was something I would like to be involved in,” she remembers. “Jo Gilbert had just set up a project of The Hygiene Bank in Doncaster, so I was excited to join her and get to work”.
Their timing was perfect. By the end of 2019, Doncaster had been hit by floods, devastating over 500 homes. “At that point, The Hygiene Bank didn’t take cleaning products, so we had to work quickly to change this because there were homes that desperately needed them” Serena says. “We built a network rapidly – with foodbanks, schools and authorities. We had distributed 26kg by May and this increased to a tonne by the end of the year!”
And The Hygiene Bank Doncaster continued to grow. “Covid hit just a few months later, which meant we were really well placed for helping the community. We’d already built up a network of people working together,” says Serena. “Straight away, a warehouse donated a lorry-load of toilet cleaner. I think we distributed more than 45 tonnes of products the next year, all the result of being so well placed because of the floods. People were already working together”.
Amazingly, this inspiring project managed to help over 55,000 people last year – but no story is forgotten. “One case that really stays with me happened on Christmas Eve,” Serena says. “I got a call late at night from a foodbank doing emergency deliveries over Christmas. They told me there was a 17-year-old, miscarrying alone in her room, with nothing. She had no pads, no wipes, no toilet roll and no cooking facilities. Thankfully, as it was Christmas, I had taken an emergency parcel home in case anyone rang in dire straits, so we were able to send everything over to her straight away. My daughter wasn’t far off that age at the time – and here was a child going through this alone. This should never happen but heartbreakingly it does”.
Now supporting 80 community partners and having delivered over 208 tonnes of products, everyone would agree that The Hygiene Bank Doncaster has had an amazing impact on their city. “The whole of Doncaster reaches out to us now. It’s every department. The hospitals, the schools, the council, the shelters,” says Serena. “We can reach people immediately. If somebody has a crisis, we can often alleviate an emergency situation within a few hours. I think there are very few charities who can say that.”
So what does the future hold for The Hygiene Bank Doncaster? “Hygiene poverty will only improve if people stop hiding in shame, so we shout what we do from the rooftops. This is no time to be discreet,” says Serena. “People in our area are becoming more aware of our hard work and I am proud to say we have just been named The Civic Mayor’s Charity of Choice for the Year. This is going to be a really big year for us! I think we have 20 volunteers now and our aim is to create a pathway in Doncaster so that everybody – in any situation – can have access to products if they need them. Whether it is from a school, a foodbank or a community organisation, nobody should slip through the net”.
