Cleaning the World

This morning we split off again into two groups, one heading back to the preschool development program I went to yesterday and another group including me helped a fairly new organization called Clean the World.

It is a great idea spawned from one question someone asked: what happens to all the partially used bars of soap left in hotel rooms?

Over 1.5 million bars of soap are thrown away each and every day. So what Clean the World has started doing is partnering with hotels to collect their partially used soap. They scrape off the outer layer, coat it with a solution then put it in a steamer to sanitize the soap. Scientific research by an independent lab was done to confirm that all germs are destroyed. It is a simple process and allows them to clean thousands of bars of soap every day.

We helped with the sanitation process...

 








...and also packing the clean soap into boxes ready to be shipped out.

Right now a majority of the soap is being sent to Haiti, but it's been sent all over the world. Clean the World was started in March of 2009 in Orlando, but they have plans to expand to Atlanta soon as well as other metropolis cities around the US. Over 100 hotels are partners with Clean the World--including Disney hotels with their Mickey soaps and the Peabody with cute duck soaps--but can you image what good could be done if many more hotels joined in?

It is a great recycling program that also saves lives! With proper handwashing using soap, diarrheal disease decreases between 30 and 60%. Soap can save lives in a third world country or even here in the US. By meeting physical needs, we open the door to let God meet their spiritual needs. It is His light we want to shine through our actions.

I know I for one will never look at a bar of soap the same way again. It is an organization I would like to work with again in the future. So simple, and yet incredibly effective. Makes me wonder what other questions we should be asking ourselves that could make such a difference?































If you'd like more information about Clean the World, here's their website: http://www.cleantheworld.org/. They also have a facebook fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Clean-the-World/272954222509?ref=mf.

Tonight we served dinner at the Coalition, the homeless ministry we worked at earlier this week in downtown Orlando. It was a great opportunity for us to glorify God by getting out of our comfort zones once again.
-ej