The You Buy. We Donate scheme has been launched by the Big House Multibank which is a charity formed by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Amazon.
Essential items have already been to over 120,000 families in need across Scotland.
The organisation is now calling on shoppers to support its drive to combat hygiene poverty in the region and help to ensure children can return to school this week feeling comfortable in their own skin.
To kick-start the campaign, Amazon has joined forces with its suppliers of well-known household brands including Unilever, L’Oréal, and Colgate-Palmolive to deliver thousands of hygiene products to families in need across Fife via The Multibank charity.
Until January 28, for every two purchases on Amazon.co.uk from a selection of over 800 personal hygiene, household and baby products, Amazon and its suppliers will donate a third item to the network of Multibanks across the UK, including the Fife facility.
According to a recent survey for The Hygiene Bank, teachers are spending £40 million out of their own pockets to combat the effects hygiene poverty in the classroom as 1 in 4 children (28 per cent) are reported to be regularly missing school because they or their clothes or kit are not clean.
Gordon Brown has welcomed the You Buy. We Donate scheme. (Image: Contributed) Former Prime Minister and Dunfermline East MP, Gordon Brown, welcomed the latest initiative.
“I’m delighted Amazon, whose surplus stocks are already a mainstay of Multibank goods, are launching a multi-business collaboration amongst hygiene companies to increase the amount of hygiene goods supplied to our Multibanks,” he said. “I thank all the companies involved.
“We know The Multibanks are making a real difference keeping hard-pressed families facing the future with some hope of better days ahead. We must now keep innovating how we do charitable work in our communities because too many children need the help right now and teachers tell us that keeping kids clean and smelling fresh is for them a priority issue.”
Kirsty Thomson, CEO of The Big House Multibank, added: “Rising living costs are forcing people into impossible situations where they’re having to choose between feeding their families, and keeping them clean.
“Family finances are under even more pressure during the winter months so we are grateful to Amazon and its suppliers for their commitment to unlock more hygiene products which will provide life-changing support to the most vulnerable in our communities.”
John Boumphrey, Amazon UK Country Manager, said they were “incredibly proud” to have supported the foundation and growth of The Big House Multibank.
He continued: “We want to support their drive to combat hygiene poverty across the region helping as many families in need as possible. By working together with our suppliers and our customers, we hope to generate hundreds of thousands more donations.”