The Soap for Hope donations are finally all unpacked and organized

Soap for Hope was four weeks ago, and the drop-in centre director for Steinbach Community Outreach says the donations have already been a blessing. 

On April 18th, we invited the community to drop by Pharmasave in Steinbach and bring donations of soap for Steinbach Community Outreach.  

Myra Gerbrandt says the community response was overwhelming and their shelves are now well-stocked. 

“Just yesterday we were almost finishing up emptying all the bins, we had our whole hallway full of empty bins and then it was like, 'what are we going to do with all the empty bins?' But all the soap is more or less contained on shelves now and quite surprisingly, we were able to organize most of it though it's taken a while.” 

Gerbrandt notes this outpouring of support has been a force of positivity at Steinbach Community Outreach. 

"Beforehand, we would go into the hygiene room, and I always felt like I had to apologize, like, 'sorry we don't have this,' or 'all we have is this.' Now we walk in there and I'm like, 'hey, what do you want? What can we offer you?' People are so excited, clamoring for the laundry soap, that's the number one thing, but we have options now with dish soap, 'do you want the Dawn? Do you want the Wizard? Do you want the Palm Olive?'. There are options and it's such a great feeling to know that we can offer more.” 

It's small things like that that make a big difference in someone's day, and Gerbrandt says it is also fun to be able to serve people in the best way possible.  

Shortly after Soap for Hope, Gerbrandt says there was an influx of people looking to fill their needs. 

“There was definitely a surge. We give out hygiene packages once a month, but then people who had already had their hygiene package would ask 'can we just steal some soap?’ Or, ‘can we get some laundry soap before next month?' There was a lot of that, and now it has evened out and everyone's on even footing now.” 

Once again, Gerbrandt thanks the community for their generosity and participation in Soap for Hope.