Middle Tennessee families are sacrificing basic hygiene products to pay their bills. Here's how you can help.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some basic products found in most bathrooms are hard for some families to afford.

Things like toothpaste, soap and shampoo are out of reach for some people helped by the Community Resource of Middle Tennessee.

The nonprofit and its generous donors supply people in Davidson, Cheatham, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson Counties with free hygiene kits.

I explain what this means for the community in the player above.

"A lack of access to hygiene is actually impacting someone's ability to work, go to school, and be present," said Tina Doniger, CEO of the Community Resource of Middle Tennessee.

In our area, two out of every five people cannot afford hygiene products. At least 80% of teens said they missed class or knew someone who missed class time because they didn't have access to period products.

"The hope is to put these products in everyday places, where everyone visiting needs to have it, then you're less likely to miss what you're there to do," Doniger said about their goal to put free period products in public bathrooms across Middle Tennessee.

We think it's so important that this need is being addressed.

If you want to help this effort, you can attend the nonprofit's annual casino night fundraiser on Friday, August 23. Tickets are $100 each. The goal is to raise half of their annual budget.

"There's a sense of dignity and it often is missed in social service — that you get what you get, and you don't pitch a fit. And so my answer to that is I want to super-serve the people who need it the most," Doniger said.

In the most recent Metro Nashville budget, the city set aside $150,000 to make sure there are free feminine products in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

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