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Imagine that you can’t buy soap or toothpaste, or you’ve been diluting a bottle of shampoo for weeks to make it last. What about hand soap, deodorant, mouthwash, period products, and disposable diapers and liners for incontinence?Since none of these is considered food, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), won’t cover them. For 38 million people in America that face hunger, it can be difficult to put food on the table much less buy other necessities. 
For thousands, these scenarios aren’t merely hypothetical. They are the painful reality of poverty and this often-overlooked fact: The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as food stamps, does not cover these non-food essentials that so many of us take for granted on our shopping lists. No US federal or state program does. Thankfully, many food pantries try to include personal hygiene items as well as food.
The Olean Rotary Club (with the help of a Rotary District 7090 grant) helped supply the Olean Food Pantry, Inc. with almost $2000 of personal care items last week including 125 reusable grocery bags that club Rotarians filled with personal care items for clients of the pantry.