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Clutch There When You Need It

Good hygiene is a basic necessity yet women across the country are unable to afford hygiene products.

Kristen Farley noticed this void in her community and wanted to make a change.

As a college student at Murray State University, Kristen needed an internship but could not find one to fit her interests. Her sister mentioned that she made hygiene bags for Kristen’s niece and her friends and it gave her an idea. Kristen decided to start her own internship with a simple thought—to create a hygiene pack that was there whenever someone needed it. Little did she know, her internship would make a big impact in her community and evolve into a nonprofit organization.

Clutch donates essential feminine hygiene products to middle and high school girls in local schools, approximately 3,000 students, as well as homeless women at The Gentry House in Murray, Ky.

“The idea behind the clutches in the middle and high schools is to be readily available for girls so they can get cleaned up and back to class with minimal time in between. We are trying to cut down on the time that girls have to worry about hygiene so they can focus on their education,” says Kristen.

The clutches are filled with pads, tampons, panty liners and moist wipes and distributed to middle school and high school bathrooms as well as the bathrooms within The Gentry House with one goal in mind— to provide hygiene products that are there when they are needed so girls can focus on their education and homeless women can worry about a better future rather than their hygiene.

To provide clutches to girls and women, Kristen raises funds and hosts packing parties to fill clutches with hygiene products. This fall, Kristen and her team of volunteers packed approximately 500 clutches to be distributed throughout the community. She strives to hosts a packing party every couple of months depending on the number of donations her organization receives and what they can afford to do for the community at that time.

“Hygiene is an issue a lot of women struggle with but don’t often talk about. I researched the cost of hygiene in Kentucky for women and it was upwards of $3,000 per year. That cost is unfathomable for some families and I knew I wanted to do something about it.”

 As college graduation approaches for Kristen, she aspires to achieve new milestones for Clutch, inc. including expanding her efforts into more communities across Kentucky and in surrounding states.

To donate to Clutch, visit inclutch.org.

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