The Global Soap Project (GSP) collects used bars of soap from more than 1,000 hotels nationwide and recycles and distributes new bars along with hygiene education, to vulnerable populations around the world such as refugees, orphans, and disaster victims. Soap is easily available in the U.S. - not readily available in other countries. When we were at the GSP warehouse, we worked on soap bars that were headed to Sierra Leone- 160,000 bars to be exact! The GSP works with the CDC & the Red Cross to get these bars of soap to the most needy areas.
With that being said, it is hard to imagine what this whole process looks like- So... we thought we'd try to share it with you in a Brown Bag Soap Company pictorial...
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| Used soap bars from hotels are sorted according to color and type |
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| The cleaned soap is then grated in to small pieces |
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| The cleaned, grated soap is fed in to a processor |
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| ...and comes out on the other side like play dough... |
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| The long bars are then cut in to 4 oz bars... |
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| ...and packed in boxes for shipping... |
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| The bars we worked on went directly to Sierra Leone where a recent nasty cholera outbreak needed to be contained... |
“Handwashing with soap is the key to decreasing the spread of cholera and saving lives,” said Sam Stephens, executive director of the Global Soap Project, adding that just distributing the soap is not enough.
“Hygiene education will be conducted by the hospital staff so that the recipients understand how and why to use the soap to prevent the contraction of cholera,” Stephens added.
We had a great time and truly felt like we were contributing directly to a GLOBAL SOAP PROJECT...
More info and volunteer opportunities at: GLOBALSOAP.ORG
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to such an amazing organization....
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