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Community Gathers To Pack Care Kits For Neighbors

FARGO — Several people gathered Monday, April 14, to do their part to keep their neighbors safe, healthy and happy.

The event, hosted by the Life Care Unites Foundation in partnership with Lush Cosmetics and Arkos Health, resulted in about 200 hygiene bags.

Encouraging notes that will be placed into hygiene kits packed with body wash, deodorant, and soaps, provided by Lush during a Stock the Shop event hosted by the Life Care Unites Foundation in partnership with Lush Cosmetics and Arkos Health at the Fargo library on Monday, April 14, 2025.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

Each bag was filled with a mix of shower gel, deodorant powder, soap and body wash and topped off with a handwritten note on a paper heart — an effort to spread positivity. Every hygiene bag will be given out, for free, to people who need a helping hand.

Rhonda Gilbertson-Evans, executive assistant for Life Care Unites, discusses the hygiene-focused services they provide at the Fargo library on Monday, April 14, 2025.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

Rhonda Jo Gilbertson-Evans is a board member with Life Care Unites and also works as the nonprofit's executive assistant.

"We're trying to dignify, honor and respect people's humanity through the use of hygiene products," Gilbertson-Evans said.

Life Care Unites runs the only hygiene product free store between St. Paul and Seattle, she said, and partners with corporations to find products, pack them into bags and redistribute them throughout the community.

These are located in four places: the Roots Hair Salon at 2108 S University Drive in Fargo; A Place For Hope: Recovery and Wellness Center at 2419 S. 12th Ave., suite 1, in Moorhead; Church of God's Word at 227 W. Main in West Fargo and in the 3 Musketeers Daycare in Harwood, N.D.

"I just want to make sure that people are free of disease and infection, and that they're being dignified, honored and respected," Gilbertson-Evans said. "As humans on this planet, we all deserve to be clean."

Kassi Woolheater, manager at the Lush store in the West Acres Mall, helped pack hygiene kits with body wash, deodorant and soaps provided by Lush during a Stock the Shop event hosted by the Life Care Unites Foundation and Arkos Health at the Fargo library on Monday, April 14, 2025.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

As manager at the Lush in the West Acres Mall, Kassi Woolheater prioritizes community engagement and strives to avoid landfill waste so, when she met the folks at Life Care Unites, it seemed like a natural fit to find a new home for excess Lush products with the people who need them the most.

"That's something that we're really adamant about and really try to create a space that is safe for our community members," she said. "Making sure that they have necessities that can also be good for them and give them a little bit of sunshine in their life."

All the soaps are in a variety of calming scents, she said, and can be safely stored in less-than-ideal temperature conditions, if necessary.

It's all about "spreading the message that there is a community there that can help to support you," she said.

Katrina Robinson, the director of the Life Care Unites Foundation, reads notes that will be placed in hygiene kits that will be stocked at the Life Care Unites Foundation Fargo and West Fargo locations for people. Life Care Unites Foundation is a 501(c)(3) NPO providing hygiene-focused services.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

Maintaining personal hygiene is an essential part of meeting your goals and going about your day, according to Katrina Robinson, executive director of Life Care Unites.

No one should have to postpone personal hygiene till a paycheck comes in, she said.

Katrina opened up this nonprofit with her husband and four children in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic brought the struggles of people in the metro dealing with resource scarcity to the forefront, she said, and the need hasn't subsided.

"It's a blessing and a privilege to be able to serve the community," she said. "We're not millionaires. We're just regular old people. Regular people can do things for people."

1/2: From left: Cassi Woolheater, Lush store manager; Jana Johnson and Becky Housker with Arkos Health; Rhonda Gilbertson-Evans, executive assistant for Life Care Unites; and Katrina Robinson, director of Life Care Unites, pack hygiene kits at the Fargo library on Monday, April 14, 2025. The kits include body wash, soap, deodorant, and a note of encouragement. The event was hosted by the Life Care Unites Foundation in partnership with Lush Cosmetics and Arkos Health. Chris Flynn / The Forum

2/2: Katrina Robinson, director of Life Care Unites, right, and Rhonda Gilbertson-Evans, executive assistant for Life Care Unites, write encouraging notes that will go in hygiene kits packed with body wash, deodorant, and soaps, provided by Lush during a Stock the Shop event hosted by the Life Care Unites Foundation in partnership with Lush Cosmetics and Arkos Health at the Fargo Library on Monday, April 14, 2025. Chris Flynn / The Forum

The Life Care Unites team has big plans for the future, too.

This summer they are going to ramp up hygiene donations with the help of their sponsor, Earth Breeze, who has donated enough laundry soap for them to provide everyone who visits one of their four locations with the ability to clean their clothes.

On Saturday, May 17, the Life Care Unites team will be gathering once again with volunteers from 1 to 4 p.M. To pack over 500 more hygiene kits. This will happen in the Moorhead Public Library at 118 Fifth St. S.

People and organizations are welcome to bring donations, Robinson said, everything from hair care to foot care products.

Those interested in learning more about Life Care Unites Foundation can reach out through Facebook at https://www.Facebook.Com/LCUFoundation/ or visit their website at https://lifecareunites.Org/.

Reporter working the night shift 👻. I cover Fargo city government, Cass County government and underserved populations in the area.

Inside Business Health Care Heroes 2025: ODU Community Care

Dr. Tammy Speerhas, director of ODU Community Care, from left, Grace Gustin, medical social worker, and Emily Horvath, nurse practitioner in front of ODU Community Care. (Courtesy of ODU Community Care)

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Originally Published: March 24, 2025 at 7:22 AM EDT

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