Editors Note: Next to Derreck, Vicki Gordon is at the very heart of our organization. As one of the founding board members, she brings her experience as a veteran executive in the hotel industry and has raised the bar (pun intended) for all of us to bring our intellect, energy and passion to the cause.
Vicki Gordon, January 2010
As a 35+ year veteran of the hotel industry I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels. I’ve stayed in grand hotels and in modest roadside inns. I’ve had doormen greet me and hand me off to bell staff who whisked me to my luxurious accommodations, and I’ve schlepped my own bags from the car, across the snow and into my “down and out” room. (FYI, in hotel jargon “down and out” means ground floor, exterior corridor and has nothing to do with the actual condition of the room. Although sometimes I did wonder…)
No matter where I stayed though, there was one constant – soap. Most accommodations provided at least one bar of soap at the bathroom sink and one in the shower. Sometimes though there would be an array of soap, including hand soap, facial soap, deodorant soap, etc.
I must admit that many a bar of the really good stuff found its way to my guest bath at home – especially the ones that didn’t have a hotel name on it! But so many times after one night’s stay, I’d check out and leave behind a couple of partially used, but perfectly good, bars of soap.
Like myself, many travelers wonder what happens to all that partially used soap left behind in hotel rooms. Well, it pains me to say that most of it goes into landfills. For sanitation reasons it can’t be reused as is.
Let’s Talk About Soap
One day in early 2009 I was having coffee with Derreck Kayongo, a young man I had known for some time. We were chatting about humanitarian work, and Derreck was telling me about his personal experiences living in refugee camps in Africa.
Well into the conversation Derreck quietly starting telling me about sanitation conditions in the camps, and how simple things like soap are not available in the camps. Well aware of my professional background , Derreck then asked me, “Vicki, what happens to all the little bars of used soap left behind in hotel rooms?”
This was a question that has changed my life. Derreck then went on to explain to me that if we could somehow get hotels to donate that used soap instead of treating it as waste , we could collect it, boil it down to sanitize it, reform it into larger bars and donate that soap to people in need – like people in refugee camps.
What a no-brainer I thought! And since I’d spent so many years in the hotel business I know lots of hotel people, and I realized that this is a contribution I can make. Using my contacts, we could open a lot of doors.
Well, twenty tons of little bars of soap later we are on the threshold of delivering our first shipment of newly reformed soap to Africa. The response from the hotel community has been tremendous, but that is to be expected. Hotel people are some of the finest, most caring people in the world.
Starting Small
Derreck and I have worked together on this now for almost a year. We have an incredible group of volunteers who comprise our founding Board (check this out for yourself by surfing further into this website).
Because our entire effort to date has been self-funded and dependent on volunteer labor, our collection area has been largely limited to the metro Atlanta area. We do have some great hotel participation outside Atlanta, but we don’t have the capacity to expand our reach a great deal at this point.
Like many “no-brainers” there is a lot of work required to build a sustainable organization with all the supporting logistics and technology networks, administrative infrastructure, etc. We’re working furiously and fast to build all this, and we’ve had some wonderful pro-bono support from too many people to list here.
Long term this all takes money of course. So, we welcome donations in any amount.
We know we can’t change the world. We can’t solve the staggering sanitation issues that confront much of the world. We can’t save the environment by keeping used soap out of landfills. We choose to focus on what we CAN do.
We can collect used bars of soap, cleanse them, and get them to people in need. We’re doing that.
P.S. If you’d like to help, your donation today would be most welcome!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE this project! I met Derreck at a chamber meeting in TN and was brought to tears by the simplicity of this project, by the HUGE difference we can make, and by this absolutely wonderful man who began it all. I was thrilled to jump on board with the three hotels I am involved in and spread the word to IN and KY hotels once back home. I would love to know other ways I can help.
Keep up the awesome work. You are such an inspiration!
God bless.
It’s great to get individual consumers to donate used hotel soaps etc for such a great cause. However, I think it would be so much better and more efficient if you partner with major hotel chains such as the Hilton, Marriot, Holidays, etc. and have them set up a system in which their cleaning staff collects not only the soap but also the leftover shampoo,conditioner, lotion and donate these in bulk.
Hi Judy – thanks for your comment. We are partnered with every major chain and several independent properties throughout the United States.
Absolutely amazing! I’m grateful for Derrick’s innovation to bring this simple idea to fruition. As a frequent hotel quest and conservationist, I have been perplexed by the amount of “waste” in the hotel industry. I wondered if there was not a way to recycle this valuable commodity. SOAP is a necessity that we take for granted in this country until one travels abroad. I am making a small donation to assist with shipping.
With Gratitude,
Miya