Comfort Cabinets at the Library

Library comfort cabinets provide everyday essentials to those in need.

With the rising cost of living and wages stagnating, many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. If you’ve found yourself in such a situation, it may feel desperate, but there are resources available as long as you know where to look. Take, for example, the comfort cabinets you can find at many public libraries. Here’s everything you need to know about them.

What Are Comfort Cabinets?

Comfort cabinets are cabinets tucked away in the corners of many libraries that contain essential daily products. The past four years have hit a lot of middle- and working-class Americans hard, and some of us don’t have the means to afford even the essentials.

Items like soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and menstrual products shouldn’t be expensive enough to break the bank, but unfortunately, they are for some. Your local library’s comfort cabinet gives you access to these products in a free and dignified way.

Accessing the supplies in your library’s comfort cabinet is extremely simple. If you don’t know where it is, just ask your librarian, and they’ll point you in the right direction. Once you’ve found the comfort cabinet, just take what you need. It’s designed to be a service you can take advantage of without any fuss or need to draw attention to yourself, encouraging everyone who needs it to use it.

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Examples of Comfort Cabinets

So, where can these comfort cabinets be found? It depends on the area you live in. While more and more libraries are adding comfort cabinets to provide for their communities, not all libraries have them yet. Check with your local library online or in person to confirm whether or not they currently have one.

Here are a few of our favorite libraries with comfort cabinets. If you're in the area, be sure to check them out!

• The Alexandrian Public Library in Indiana. Anyone can access the comfort cabinet and take whatever they need. The cabinet has essential items like toothpaste, tampons, and deodorant, as well as a few useful nonessentials like hair ties and nail files.
• The Forest Park Public Library in Illinois. In addition to the basic essentials, the Forest Park comfort cabinet includes fresh clothes like t-shirts if your current clothes are damaged or worn thin.
• The Noble County Public Library in Indiana. Noble County has set up a network of comfort cabinets, so you’ll have easy access to the essentials you need no matter which library you're closest to.

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How You Can Support Comfort Cabinets at Your Library

Of course, you may not be in a position where you need to use the comfort cabinets at your local library. If that’s the case, you may instead be looking for ways to keep them running. Fortunately for you, comfort cabinets are largely a community effort, so there’s plenty of room for you to chip in! Many comfort cabinets will post wish lists of items that patrons frequently use or that the cabinets are running low on.

Next time you’re doing your weekly shopping, just pick up a few extras and stop by your local library to donate them. It may not seem like much to you, but your contribution means the world to those who need it. Like the library as a whole, these comfort cabinets bring people closer together and allow community members to help each other in their times of need.

Want to learn more about the services the library offers, how they help you, and how you can support them? Feel free to visit our Public Libraries feature page today!

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