Daniel Kwon remembers a time when he and his family crammed into a tiny apartment and ate dinner on cardboard boxes, because they didn't have a table. Kwon's parents emigrated from South Korea to the Philadelphia area in 2005, to "pursue the American dream," he said.
"But I think with the American dream, in the beginning, there's always financial struggle," said Kwon, now a senior at Conestoga High School in Tredyffrin Township.
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Still, his parents took him and his brother and sister to museums and cultural events in Philadelphia, where Kwon saw people experiencing homelessness and realized that he "truly took a lot of things for granted, basically" – such as the fact that he had a roof over his head and access to a shower, soap and toothpaste, Kwon said.
That empathy is part of what inspired him to start a nonprofit in 2023, originally named Student Association of Hygiene Product Donation. The nonprofit hosted bake sales at Conestoga to raise money to make hygiene kits for local homeless shelters.
But attending a HOSA-Future Health Professionals conference over the summer, and talking to students from around the world who were interested in public health, gave him "almost like a slap in the face," Kwon said.
"Like, 'Dan, sure, you started this nonprofit, but you literally started this in terms of resume building,'" Kwon said. "But then there's so many people out there you could help with the resources you have."
Since then, Kwon has been redoubling his nonprofit's efforts. It recently rebranded as Plover International, since Plovers are birds that clean alligator teeth and "provide essential hygiene to them, similar to our mission," Kwon said. Plover's motto is "hygiene is a human right." And now his chapter at Conestoga is collaborating with students who have formed Plover chapters across the country, all focused on donating dental and menstrual products to communities in need and on raising awareness about hygiene as a public health issue.
Hygiene promotion is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce disease, according to the World Bank. But as of 2022, approximately 2 billion people worldwide lacked hand-washing facilities with soap and water in their homes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. In Philadelphia, about a quarter of city residents live in poverty, and about two-thirds of low-income women struggle to pay for menstrual products over the course of a year, according to the Mayor's Office of Engagement for Women.
Oral hygiene is important to prevent cavities and tooth decay, and gum disease has been linked to diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and heart disease, among other health issues. But many families lack dental insurance. The cost of services is the highest barrier to dental care in Southeastern Pennsylvania, even to people on Medicaid, according to a 2021 report.
At a recent event Plover hosted at Conestoga with its branches from schools in Willow Grove, Ambler, Wayne and Philadelphia, students put together 200 dental hygiene kits and 200 period product kits to distribute to city shelters and human services organizations including the Bethesda Project and the Station House Transitional Center. Each dental kit had a toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss. Each menstrual kit had two heavy flow pads and two lighter flow pads.
Plover's board, which includes students from chapters across the country, has video conferences every two weeks to brainstorm. Plover now has a chapter in Taiwan that has donated thousands of menstrual and dental products throughout the country, Kwon said.
When he goes to college next year, Kwon hopes to begin a journey toward becoming an emergency medicine doctor or a dentist. He also plans to continue the work he started with Plover, potentially extending the nonprofit's reach to raising awareness about the need for pediatric products, such as diapers and wipes – high-priced essentials not covered by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children that serves about 40% of infants in the country.
Ultimately, Plover is about "community building," Kwon said.
