December
2009
Each
day thousands of bars of partially used soaps and toiletries are discarded in
hotel rooms. Each day 9,000 children die
from acute respiratory and diarrheal disease. Pneumonia and diarrheal disease
are the top two killers of children under five.
Simple hand-washing can reduce those 3.5 million annual deaths by up to
60%. A small but mighty group came out
December 8th in Orlando
to help Clean the World by recycling soap and partially used toiletries. As a pre-conference CSR event to the 2nd
Annual Green Lodging and Hospitality Conference, the GMIC Florida/Caribbean
chapter-in-formation hosted eager participants at the Clean the World
warehouse.
Helping
sanitize and repackage soaps and toiletries for delivery to those in need,
everyone learned the brief history of CTW and the importance of their mission
before rolling up their sleeves to rotate through the five stations – toiletry
recovery as well as soap surface cleaning, dipping, sanitation, and wrapping. That last step in the soap recycling process
was so gratifying, knowing that the next time that soap would be touched is
when it will be put into the hands of those who cannot afford so much as a bar
of soap.
In
less than 90 minutes, a small group of volunteers under the guidance of the CTW
staff:
- surfaced
cleaned 70 lbs soap
- sanitized
390 lbs or 3,000 bars soap
- wrapped
140 lbs soap
- recovered
100 lbs. amenity bottles.
Not
only are our landfills saved from some of the contamination and over-burden
from these discards, but these leftover bars of soap become little bars of
hope. Eager faces greet Clean the World
each time they arrive in Haiti
or any of the other third world countries they service. Education and soap can help save lives. Together, we’re changing history in our
lifetime.
Visit
www.CleanTheWorld.org for
information about how recycling soap saves lives and what you can do to get
involved as a hotel, or individually!
Click Here to see the YouTube presentation.
THANK YOU to our volunteers: Paul Steen, Sarah
Cahill, Alexa Cahill, Dave Cahill, Ray Burger, Ray Hobbs, Robin Galli,
Brett Smith, Danielle Adams and Katherine Manfredi.
Green Meeting Industry Council
Sustainability is our Vision
Corporate Responsibility is our Obligation
Green Meetings are our
Strategy
Web: www.greenmeetings.info
EMAIL: GMIC.Florida.Caribbean@gmail.com
Contact: Katherine Manfredi, CMM
954-864-2705