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Pairing the right products with the right partners turns essentials into catalysts for connection, healing, and hope.
When the right essentials arrive at the right time, they do more than meet a need; they open doors. That’s what we learned firsthand when we delivered hygiene kits to the Surrey Women’s Centre (SWC), an organization that offers wrap‑around support for women, girls, and gender-diverse people navigating gender-based violence.
These kits – assembled at a Good360-hosted volunteer event by Saint-Gobain employees – were filled with everyday items like shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, deodorant, and period products. They may seem simple, but at SWC, they’re often the first bridge to safety, trust, and dignified care.
“We’re not here to just hand out things. That is what gets people into the door because it is an outlet for building relationships.” – Samantha Grey, Registered Social Worker & Director of Sexual Assault Services, SWC.
SWC, located just outside of Vancouver, BC, is the largest community-based victim support agency in the province, serving approximately 15,000 people each year across programs that include a crisis team, court support, counseling, hospital accompaniment, a no‑barrier drop‑in Resource Centre, and the SMART (Surrey Mobile Assault Response Team) outreach van.
Essentials That Open the Door
These seemingly small items are not just “nice to haves”; they’re conversation openers, entry points to trauma-informed support, and paths to guidance, counseling, and ultimately healing.
“When we’re able to build trust with someone by meeting their needs, that opens a door of possibility to have a larger conversation about your wellbeing, your safety. What do you envision? Having these kits available makes that opportunity… all the more possible.” – Samantha Grey
For survivors who are unhoused or newly housed, fresh toiletries can make all the difference. As Gabriela De Romeri, Fundraising & Communications Lead at SWC, put it, “If you’re able to have that shower, put deodorant on, brush your teeth… It can just brighten someone’s day a little bit and help raise self-confidence, making it more manageable for a survivor to start tackling more complex emotional or recovery-routed needs.”
Relief for Frontline Staff
Every donated item translates into something even larger: freed-up time, funding, and emotional capacity for SWC to invest where it matters most.
“We never have enough. We don’t have an ongoing supply… Having this kind of stock is a very, very appreciated anomaly.” – Alexandra Kilian, Communications & Development Coordinator
With essentials on hand, SWC can redirect limited resources toward critical areas of programming, including the upcoming opening of the Windrose Allied Survivor Support Centre, a first-of-its-kind space in Surrey that will centralize forensic exams, police reporting (for those who choose), crisis support, and short- and long-term counseling under one roof.
For an organization serving thousands of survivors each year, reducing the daily scramble for soap, shampoo, and toothbrushes isn’t a small shift; it’s a strategic one.
“Now we can invest in our organization, invest in the recovery of survivors… It helps us not to spread thin.” – Gabriela De Romeri
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
While SWC drives the mission and Good360 works to deliver the right products to the right place, Saint-Gobain and employees from its CertainTeed Gypsum site played a key, local role: neighbors stepping up for neighbors. Located in the same community, their employees built the kits and ensured SWC’s most-requested items were stocked on the shelves.
Their involvement wasn’t about recognition; it was about contribution, and about reinforcing that community care is strongest when shared. This is what thoughtful partnership looks like: each organization leaning into its strengths to meet urgent, everyday needs with humanity.
Moving Forward, Together
At Good360, we believe access to essentials is a critical first step toward stability, safety, and healing. When we match goods with the right partners, especially organizations like Surrey Women’s Centre, who understand exactly what their community members need, those items become more than products. They become agency, trust, and the beginning of a path forward.
Together, we can make sure that the next person who needs support, resources, or care is met with the words, “Yes, we have what you need.”
