The touching story behind this closet full of toiletries
A teacher has come up with a beautiful idea to give children from low-income families access to daily essentials such as shampoo, conditioner and deodorant.
Reddit user Terevok published a post on the online forum praising his wife, a kindergarten teacher, for creating a "comfort closet", stocked with toiletry supplies donated by staff, at her school in the US.
Sadly, 15 million children live below the poverty line in the United States. Without the basic necessities that many of us take for granted, it makes getting an education for disadvantaged children even harder than it needs to be.
The closet at this school is available for children from kindergarten age through to the fifth grade and is regularly replenished with toothpaste, toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products, soap, combs and other day-to-day items.
Another Reddit user commented that she knew a teacher who had a similar set-up at a school that had many children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
"Some of these kids simply don't have clean, properly fitting clothes to wear," he wrote.
"The teachers do all of this in a way that saves the child from embarrassment and simply hooks them up so they can hopefully focus on learning in school without at least some of the additional stress they live with."
The post generated thousands of comments, with many people who had grown up in difficult financial circumstances praising the teacher’s efforts.
"As someone who grew up homeless from age 11-17 I would skip school most of the time because I literally only had 2 shirts and 2 pants for the whole year," SirCyclops wrote.
"And it was embarrassing. Glad these services out there for others experiencing what I felt. It might be something as not a big deal, but for those [who] have been there, the gratitude is endless."
"Thanks for watching out for your students," one user, mamacrocker, wrote simply.