Amazing community group needs volunteers to relaunch in Kilkenny
Feeling clean and healthy is something many of us take for granted, but some people are struggling to afford the most basic, everyday hygiene essentials.
The Hygiene Hub volunteer charity was set up to address this need and in Kilkenny it delivered 555kgs of products in just the first 18 months of work in the city, thanks to local donations and local partner groups.
In sad circumstances, much of the group’s work has been on hold in recent months, but now the group is putting out the call for new volunteers to make sure that essential work in Kilkenny continues.
Hygiene poverty is the inability to afford to access items such as shampoo, deodorant, period products and household cleaning items. It impacts health, wellbeing, confidence and participation in everyday life.
Across Ireland, people are being forced to choose between paying for food, heating, rent and hygiene items.
Sorcha Killian, a founder of Hygiene Hub, described how they have helped where families of four are sharing one toothbrush, or people are washing their clothes while they are in the shower.
She also described how children are missing school because they can’t wash uniforms or because they don’t have period products.
They also work with older communities. Hygiene poverty affects all ages and all genders, and it affects people at different life stages in different ways, Sorcha said.
“People have no idea the depth of need. It was really hidden when we started, a foreign concept to people.”
From late 2023 until her untimely death in 2025, Ann Little was the driving force behind Hygiene Hub in Kilkenny.
As the local coordinator she ensured donation points were set up, liaised with schools who held charity drives for hygiene products and she organised the delivery of those donations to the groups who partnered with Hygiene Hub in Kilkenny, like Amber refuge, national schools, helping the homeless and family resource centres.
Sorcha remembers her fondly. “She was one of the best people,” she said.
Kilkenny Volunteer Centre has an amazing partnership with Hygiene Hub, and manager Salena Grace also paid tribute to Ann, who she described as a remarkable lady and an incredibly dedicated volunteer.
Ann “coordinated the Hygiene Hub almost single-handedly here in Kilkenny, roping in unsuspecting family members to help her out! She coordinated the multiple donation drop-off points across the city, she collected donations and delivered them to local partners like Newpark FRC, who made sure they reached the people who needed them most.
“She even found the time to visit schools and inspire the students to get involved too. Her energy for this work was something else - she just never stopped.
“We always loved when Ann called into the Volunteer Centre. She'd leave everyone in a good mood with her enthusiasm for the work she was doing, and she always came armed with buns! Ann was a force to be reckoned with, a truly special person, and she is so dearly missed.”
The Volunteer Centre was able to provide some support to Hygiene Hub’s partners in recent months, but now the organisation wants to build its service in the city back up.
“We want to reestablish and expand the groups we are working with,” Sorcha said.
Volunteers are needed to do this. Sorcha explained it’s a flexible role with no set hours, no minimum or maximum time commitment.
Volunteers will collect donations from drop off points and coordinate deliveries to Hygiene Hub’s partners in Kilkenny.
All volunteers take part in an induction and an in-person event will be held in Kilkenny at the end of summer.
Hygiene Hub also needs shops or pharmacies to become drop off points for donations. This means having a box on the premises for donations that the volunteer team will collect.
Work places and schools can also hold ‘drives’ to collect donations.
To volunteer or to find out more about Hygiene Hub go to the website hygienehub.ie or find them on social media.