Force multiplier. The last sudsy spotlight focused on a small center working on homelessness and poverty by building a local community, one relationship at a time. Simply The Basics is attacking the same problems with a very different approach. Their goal is to become a force multiplier for nonprofits and charitable organizations in San Francisco and beyond.
The seed was planted in the winter of 2015, when Meghan Freebeck sponsored a drive to collect menstrual hygiene products for homeless women in the San Francisco area. The response was amazing and Meghan realized that not only was there a great need, there was also a strong desire in the community to help. What was needed was a better mechanism to connect the two.
A survey of over 100 nonprofit organizations discovered that soliciting, locating, receiving, organizing and warehousing supplies (in large part, hygiene supplies) took up a huge amount of the time and effort of their staff and volunteers – time that could be better served working directly with the people experiencing problems in the community.
So, Simply The Basics was launched with a focus on supporting these organizations in this particular set of tasks. They immediately established a “Hygiene Bank” – a central location where they coordinate between many nonprofits, collecting excess supplies from some locations and redistributing them to others where they are needed.
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