Hope & Comfort was founded by Jeff Feingold, who learned about the great unmet need for hygiene products after gathering donations of household items for a local nonprofit in lieu of presents for his daughter’s birthday. Jeff received a call from a social worker thanking him for the donations, which included basic hygiene items, and described to him why those items were so valued by her clients: that they were expensive, food stamps cannot be used to purchase them, and there is no safety net for these items. Jeff was inspired to create a model for bulk purchasing, storage, and distribution of these items for local nonprofits right from his household garage and, in 2011, Hope & Comfort was born.
Today, Hope & Comfort is the largest organizations in New England with a mission to end hygiene insecurity to improve and support the health, confidence and dignity of people in Massachusetts. Their core program distributes over 2.2 million high-quality hygiene products annually at no cost to a rapidly-expanding network of more than 300 nonprofits, schools, and community organizations in MA, directly serving over 440,000 residents. Through this collaborative model, Hope & Comfort enhances the missions of these safety net organizations, ensures products are delivered expediently to people in need from all backgrounds and circumstances, and leverages strong relationships with retailers and wholesalers to multiply their impact.
Partnering with The Lynch Foundation
The Lynch Foundation was introduced to Jeff and Hope & Comfort back in 2015 providing modest annual support in recognition of the critical gap they were filling for families and individuals. Since Hope & Comfort’s founding, the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and rising costs have only exacerbated the demand for their services. Thus, In 2023, Hope & Comfort approached the Foundation for a multi-year partnership to expand their services to reach more families in need. To successfully grow, Hope & Comfort will identify additional partners and channels to distribute their products as well as advocate for policy changes regarding government funding and policies around access to hygiene products.
The Lynch family has also been an active supporter of Hope & Comfort. Erika Witkowski was a Youth Board Leader for several years and Luke and Catherine Witkowski are active volunteers.