The Feeling Fresh Project tackles ‘hygiene poverty’ in SMCISD

What started as a small hygiene drive to help her daughter’s third-grade teachers has evolved into something much bigger for The Feeling Fresh Project Founder and President Paige Biersdorfer.

In a nutshell

The Feeling Fresh Project provides essential hygiene products to San Marcos CISD elementary school students. The organization aims to address hygiene disparities so students can focus on learning. Biersdorfer founded the organization in July, and its first hygiene closet was established at Mendez Elementary School with help from school officials, including school counselor Savahna Silvas.

The background

She said she was inspired to start The Feeling Fresh Project after an experience she had with her daughter’s teacher’s Amazon wishlist. Instead of the usual items like books and tissues, the wishlist included hairbrushes, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Biersdorfer decided to run a small hygiene drive to help out the teachers, thinking that would be the end of it.

“Over the summer, I just could not stop thinking about it,” Biersdorfer said. “So I did a little bit of research about hygiene poverty, how it affects children, and I just thought, ‘okay, well I’m going to try it.’”

Zooming in

According to a research project by Feeding America, 74% of low-income families reported skipping washing dishes or doing laundry due to a lack of household products, and 23% cut back on food expenses to afford hygiene products.

While benefits such as SNAP help individuals and families access food, they are not eligible to be used on products such as deodorant, toothpaste or menstrual products.

“There’s not a social safety net for these kinds of things, the hygiene care,” Biersdorfer said. “And kids miss school because of it.”

Looking ahead

Biersdorfer aims to have a hygiene closet in every SMCISD school, adding a hygiene closet to at least one new school every year. She is in talks with the counselors at Hernandez Elementary School and hopes to set up a closet next year.

The organization operates with the help of community donations.

Types of products stocked in the closet include items such as:

• Lice kits
• Chapstick
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• Deodorant
• Menstrual products
• Bodywash
• Lotion

• 1805 Peter Garza Drive, San Marcos
• www.thefeelingfreshproject.com