#globalsoapproject

[runwillis]

@derreckkayongo @global_soap_project Derreck was a great speaker this morning! You should go check out the work he does with Global Soap Project! So inspiring how he saves lives with recycled soap! Thank you to ALA for bringing him to us this morning! #globalsoapproject #recycledsoap #americanlightingassociation #vancouver #inspiring (at Hyatt Regency Vancouver)

[spintheworldaround]

@derreckkayongo laying down truth bombs about the perils of dictatorship and his #bigidea to send hotels' used soap to Africa! #globalsoapproject #sitsum (at W Atlanta Buckhead)

[twocentproject]

Spreading the Suds Around

Today I had a kind of bad day. It's finals week and I haven't slept in days and have been stressed out and running on just coffee and leftover cheese. All I really want right now is someone to commiserate with. Someone who is going through the same thing as me and will sit around and feel miserable about it with me. But since all of my friends have their act together and graduated college while I'm in year 7, I couldn't think of anyone. And then tonight walking home, in the window of the corner store, I saw the only friend I've ever really needed -- ice cream. 

Not just ice cream, Häagen-Dazs Rocky Road. I wanted to eat a pint of my feelings in the form of chocolate, almond, and marshmallow swirls. But somehow I decided that I could live without it. So instead of buying myself some delicious, delicious ice cream, I'm going to eat the almost expired yogurt in my refrigerator and give that $5.50 to the Global Soap Project.

The Global Soap Project recycles discarded and partially used hotel soap and redistributes the new soap to people around the world who need it. They work with organizations like the CDC and Partners in Health to identify people who don't have access to soap. Their aim is to provide soap, teach people how to use it and why it's important, and to ensure that once they start they have access to it for the rest of their lives. 

I really had never considered just how important hygiene is to survival but 1.4 million deaths could be prevented each year by handwashing with soap. What I think is so amazing about this organization is that they use something that is regularly wasted in huge quantities to fight a problem that is so often overlooked. And since $4 is enough to provide soap and hygiene education to one person for one year, I know my $5.50 is going to be used well. If anyone lives in Atlanta, they sound like a great place to volunteer and they're looking for hotels all over to get involved. And you can donate here.

In the mean time, this is what I'll be doing with my yogurt tonight.

My Two Cents What I Gave Up: Häagen-Dazs Rocky Road Ice Cream, $5.50 Where It’s Going: To provide hygiene education and soap to people without access to it Why: Because hygiene-related illnesses are too serious to keep being ignored

- Alex, Van Wilder if he was less fun, more stressed, and hated college