The Grace Network Celebrates 5 Years of Providing Basic Hygiene Products for Students in Need

While volunteering at local public schools back in 2021, Glenview's Sarah Airola consistently witnessed teachers coming to the aid of their students who would come to school lacking basic hygiene. She saw teachers purchase socks, deodorant, soap, and even granola bars, and stash them in desk drawers so they were available if a child was in need.

After seeing this consistent need for basic hygiene products from students, and watching teachers and school staff spend their own funds to purchase the items, Airola and her husband Ryan started The Grace Network , an organization dedicated to providing basic hygiene products to help children experiencing homelessness in Chicago schools.

The Grace Network’s mission is to provide essential hygiene items to students facing adversity, ensuring they have the necessary resources to succeed academically and socially. The organization’s efforts have been met with positive feedback from schools and community members, highlighting the impact of their work in improving the educational and health outcomes of vulnerable students.

The Grace Network connects people willing to give with families in need, and there are more families in need than many may realize.

“Nearly fifteen percent of all Chicago public school students will experience homelessness or living in temporary living situations at some point in their educational career," Airola said. "It could mean that they are jumping from couch to couch or sleeping in a car for a few nights, bridging the gap," Airola said.

Five years later, The Grace Network has grown and works with nearly 200 Chicagoland schools, supporting over 10,000 unhoused students annually and distributes more than 500,000 hygiene items each year. By addressing this frequently overlooked barrier, they help students arrive at school healthy, confident, and ready to learn.

Now deep into their next phase of supporting schools, in addition to providing hygiene supplies, The Grace Network has added laundry services with washers and dryers for student use in schools.

“It is difficult for students to reach their educational and social-emotional goals if their basic needs are not being met. The Grace Network helps us address this amongst our students,” said Bowen High School Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS) liaison Kevin Wilks.

In early 2024, The Grace Network launched a “care kits” initiative to build and distribute up to 10,000 kits filled with essential hygiene products through their school network. Much of their support for this initiative comes from volunteers and corporate partners looking to host in-office volunteer programming for staff or student volunteering.

They quickly surpassed their goal and packed 11,500 kits through corporate partners such as William Blair and Northwestern Medicine. In 2025, they nearly doubled the number of hygiene care kits packed, and it has become a key way The Grace Network is supported by local organizations and businesses.

“As students mature and learn how to apply themselves, they face many challenges. At the Grace Network, we want to leverage local leadership to alleviate the burden of hygiene insecurity so that the kids can focus on learning, growing and helping to shape our future,” said Airola. “So many students are facing complicated barriers when accessing their education, and access to basics like hygiene and clean socks should not be one of them.”

For more information about volunteering, donating or other ways to help, please go to The Grace Network.