Clean the World Named Official Charity Partner of soaked Orlando

Clean the World has been named the official charity of soaked, an extreme watersports festival in downtown Orlando on Sept. 7-8 with international appeal.

The professional water ski competition and family friendly festival features extreme sports, muscle cars, live entertainment, carnival attractions, and music for fans, friends and family. Proceeds from the event will support Clean the World, a downtown Orlando-based charity that recycles soaps and save lives around the world.

Paul Lovett of soaked & Shawn Seipler of Clean the World
at Clean the World's Orlando Recycling Facility

“We are happy to support a cause that has brought so much to third world countries and disaster stricken locations, not to mention the homeless crisis in our own backyard, in downtown middle America,” says Paul Lovett, Producer of soaked. “soaked recognizes Clean the World’s achievements. In particular, saving the lives of millions of children with something as simple as a bar of soap.”

soaked has already made a media splash in central Florida, and is gaining attention globally. The organizers, who are also involved with the 2012 Olympic Games in London, UK, bring international flair and event expertise to the event that is sure to make it a fantastic spectacle that ultimately will help raise awareness and funding for Clean the World.

With the City of Orlando as host, soaked features world champion water skiers in pursuit of lucrative prizes, which event organizers say make this "the richest water skiing event in the world" and it will be held at Orlando's iconic Lake Eola, less than one mile from Clean the World headquarters.

"This is an amazing opportunity to gain international exposure for our global hygiene revolution," says Shawn Seipler, CEO and co-founder at Clean the World. "soaked attracts a worldwide audience of avid fans and extreme sports enthusiasts. It's a young, dynamic demographic that also has passion for saving lives. We are proud to be a part of this event and are looking forward to a remarkable festival."

Over the past 3 years Clean the World has delivered over 10 million bars of soap to children and families in the US and 45 countries  worldwide, simultaneously diverting over 1.4 million pounds of landfill waste. “Saving kids’ lives and helping our sustainable future are goals both soaked  and Clean the World share and therefore this was an easy match up” Lovett says.

About soaked, LLC.
Combining extreme sports, family-friendly entertainment and music in the world capital of water skiing, Orlando, FL.  soaked is an extreme water sports festival coming to Orlando September 7-8, 2012. Taking over downtown Orlando’s iconic centerpiece, Lake Eola. The festival will feature world champion water skiers competing for the sport’s largest purse prize, along with live music, motor shows, carnival rides, great food, and more.

More information and tickets can be found at www.soakedorlando.com

About Clean the World Foundation Inc.
Clean the World Foundation Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. The Foundation executes its mission of saving millions of lives around the globe by leading a global hygiene revolution to distribute recycled soap and hygiene products to children and families suffering from high death rates due to the top two killers of children worldwide – acute respiratory infection (pneumonia) and diarrheal diseases (cholera). For more information visit: www.cleantheworld.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates on how you can help save lives with soap.

Gaylord Hotels Partners with Clean the World

Summary: Four Gaylord Hotels properties in the United States will recycle soaps and bottled amenities to stop the spread of preventable diseases worldwide

Gaylord Palms, Orlando

Gaylord Hotels, has deepened its commitment to sustainability by partnering with Clean the World to recycle soaps and bottled amenities at all four Gaylord properties in North America -- Gaylord National (Washington, D.C.), Gaylord Opryland (Nashville, Tenn.), Gaylord Palms (Orlando, Fla.), and Gaylord Texan (Dallas, Texas).

Clean the World projects that the entire Gaylord Hotels portfolio, representing 8,050 hotel rooms, will collect nearly 447,000 soap bars (more than 84,000 lbs. of soap) and 62,500 lbs. of bottled amenities (shampoos, conditioners, body washes, lotions and gels) each year for distribution to children and families in domestic homeless shelters, women’s shelters, and rescue missions. The sanitized and recycled amenities will also be included in sustainable hygiene kits for foreign distribution to orphanages, schools, medical clinics, and missions.

Gilchrist & Soames, a leading hospitality amenities provider, was instrumental in executing this partnership on behalf of Clean the World. All four Gaylord Hotels participating in this agreement feature Gilchrist & Soames amenities in their hotel rooms, which will be recycled after guest use as hygiene supplies for children and families in communities where soap and bottled amenities are in great demand, but short supply.
Through this partnership, housekeeping staff at each Gaylord Hotel property will collect and ship hotel guest room amenities to Clean the World for recycling and distribution to disadvantaged communities in the United States, Canada, and more than 45 countries. All shipping costs via Clean the World’s corporate partner UPS are included as part of the Clean the World program. Recent distributions of soaps and hygiene kits have been made to communities in Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone.

Orlando-based Clean the World Foundation Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization and the largest global recycler of hotel guest-room amenities. Through its sustainable and socially responsible efforts, including a patented method of sterilizing soaps during the recycling process to remove potential germs and pathogens, Clean the World has helped divert more than 1.4 million lbs. of hotel waste from local landfills.

Clean the World recently achieved a major milestone with the global distribution of more than 10 million soap bars in just three years of operation. The soaps are often packaged as part of sustainable hygiene kits, which include recycled bottled amenities and other hygiene-related items collected from more than 1,400 hospitality partners throughout North America.

Participation in the Clean the World amenities recycling program complements the Gaylord Hotels GET Green program, which focuses on energy conservation and comprehensive sustainability initiatives at all Gaylord Hotels properties.

“We are excited about our partnership with Clean the World,” said Andy Mims, vice president of sustainability for Gaylord Entertainment Co.  “The program is an example of sustainability at its very best – we are simultaneously reducing our environmental footprint by eliminating landfill waste, creating a positive social impact and reducing our waste spend.  Further, the program brings attention to the real-world concerns for health and personal hygiene experienced by many people who will never visit our hotels, but will benefit from the generosity of those who have.”

Each day, 9,000 children around the world die from acute respiratory infection and diarrheal diseases that can be prevented by washing with bar soap. Clean the World has a mission to put soap in the hands of people who need it most to improve and promote hygiene and sanitary living conditions and to lessen the impact of disease.

“Gaylord Hotels is famous for gorgeous, innovative, and spectacular accommodations that respect and reinforce the value of our natural environment,” says Shawn Seipler, CEO and co-founder at Clean the World. “We welcome them to our global hygiene revolution and are confident that each property will exceed expectations as it collects much-needed hygiene products to help stop the spread of preventable diseases.”

About Clean the World Foundation Inc.
Clean the World Foundation Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. The Foundation executes its mission of saving millions of lives around the globe by leading a global hygiene revolution to distribute recycled soap and hygiene products to children and families suffering from high death rates due to the top two killers of children worldwide – acute respiratory infection (pneumonia) and diarrheal diseases (cholera). For more information visit: www.cleantheworld.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates on how you can help save lives with soap.


About Gaylord Hotels®
Gaylord Hotels® is a collection of four upscale resorts which afford endless opportunities for leisure travelers and conventioneers. The hotel company's hallmark – "everything in one place" – provides vacationers with diverse dining options, quality spa and fitness center services, top-notch entertainment, onsite shopping and endless activities – all within each resort. A pioneer in the hotel and convention industry with properties in the nation's most desirable destinations, Gaylord Hotels include Gaylord Opryland® in Nashville, Tennessee; Gaylord Palms® in Kissimmee, Florida near Orlando; Gaylord Texan® on Lake Grapevine near Dallas, Texas; and Gaylord National® on the Potomac in National Harbor, Maryland. Gaylord Hotels is owned and operated by Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET), a leading hospitality and entertainment company based in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, please visit www.GaylordHotels.com.

About Gilchrist & Soames
Gilchrist & Soames is a leading provider of cosmetic-grade toiletry collections for world-class hotels, exclusive resorts, and distinguished spas, inns, and bed & breakfasts. Specializing in servicing the luxury market, Gilchrist & Soames’ products can be found in discerning properties throughout the world. Gilchrist & Soames is based in Indianapolis, Indiana and Peterborough, London, England. The company is wholly-owned by Swander Pace Capital, San Francisco. For more information, visit www.gilchristandsoames.com

More Soap Drive Success Stories

Naked hair stylists, prep school students, sustainability sisters, church groups, a local hospitality partner, and realtor associations. All have made recent soap donations to help Clean the World.

More than 329 lbs. of soap and bottled amenities were donated from various sources in the past few weeks by eager supporters of Clean the World from around the United States. And we are receiving more boxes, bins, and bags full of hygiene products each day.

Naked Hair Salon & More! of Delray Beach, Fla., donated 15 lbs. of soaps and bottled amenities donated by their clients. In fairness, the hair stylists are not naked, but the owners of Naked Hair Salon and More! couldn't "bare" to see good beauty products go to waste. They organized a donation at the south Florida salon as a way to "give back to our environment" and limit landfill waste. The hygiene products were shipped via Clean the World corporate partner UPS to the Orlando recycling operations center in early May. "Thank you for allowing us to partner with you to make a difference," they wrote.

Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Fla. conducted a soap drive as a service leadership project by its elementary school students after a visit by Clean the World in April. The students collected 77 lbs. of soaps and shampoos, which were dropped off in-person at the Orlando facility. "Your presentation worked," said the students.

Allison and Jillian Samowitz, twin sisters from Golden Beach, Fla. who were featured in Reader's Digest earlier this year, visited Clean the World's Orlando headquarters and brought a gift of 28 lbs. of soap collected from their classmates at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The sisters, who met Clean the World CEO Shawn Seipler as both received Sustainable Florida Best Practices Awards last year, have formed an organization called Proseed2Green, which promotes environmental awareness in small communities. "We wanted to support this incredible cause," they said.

Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., a local Clean the World partner, hosted a soap drive and collected 113 lbs. of store-bought soaps from hotel employees and friends. That's above and beyond the guest-room amenities collections we regularly receive from this partner. Love to see that extra effort and passion helps save lives around the world.


After hearing an NPR interview that featured Clean the World, a group of women at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Arlington Heights, Ill., organized a community soap drive. The Christian Family Movement group collected 62 lbs. of soaps, hand sanitizers, shampoos, lotions and gels from parishioners and community residents.



"One of the missions of Christian Family Movement is to perform actions that promote social justice. This soap drive was a perfect fit for us," they wrote.

And NAIOP, a commercial real estate trade association in Herndon, Va., organized a Clean the World soap drive over a two-week period after learning about Clean the World from our amenities partner, LATHER. The collection netted 16 lbs. of soaps and amenities for people in need.
When will you organize a soap drive in your community? It's easy. Here's how.

Thanks for all of our soap donation organizers -- past, present, and future -- for helping Clean the World.

IHG Partners with Clean the World

Summary: Participating IHG hotels in the United States and Canada will assist communities in reducing waste and stopping the spread of preventable diseases

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON: IHG, NYSE: IHG (ADRs)], one of the world’s largest hotel groups, announced today a partnership with Clean the World to recycle partially-used soaps and bottled amenities from hotel guest rooms and distribute them in communities with limited access to hygiene products.

Clean the WorldFoundation Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization that is committed to stopping the spread of preventable diseases by collecting, recycling and distributing hotel guest room amenities to children and families in the United States, Canada and more than 45 countries worldwide. Through its sustainable and socially responsible efforts, including a patented method of sterilizing soaps during the recycling process to remove potential germs and pathogens, Clean the World has helped divert more than 1.4 million lbs. of hotel waste from local landfills.

Through this partnership, IHG has the potential to add 3,274 properties in the United States and Canada, representing 407,840 rooms to Clean the World’s growing list of more than 1,400 hospitality partners throughout North America. IHG brands that can participate in the program include:


- InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts
- Hotel Indigo®
- Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts
- Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts
- Holiday Inn Express®
- Staybridge Suites®
- Candlewood Suites®.

The agreement lends corporate support for all IHG brands to join the Clean the World hospitality partnership program, which provides implementation training, supplies and shipping for guest room amenities collected each day at participating properties. Nearly 70 IHG branded properties are already involved with Clean the World, and have helped collect 268,517 soap bars and divert more than 40.5 tons of hotel waste from local landfills.

Clean the World aligns well with IHG’s Green Engage program, a comprehensive online sustainability system which measures, manages and reports on the conservation efforts of individual properties within the IHG family of brands.  Through Green Engage, IHG has set a goal of reducing solid waste by 50 percent for each participating hotel.  By recycling hotel soaps and bottled amenities with Clean the World, participating IHG properties will make significant progress in meeting this goal, while improving living conditions for communities in need.

“Through programs like Green Engage and this new partnership with Clean the World, IHG continues to address our sustainability priorities at the hotel level,” says Paul Snyder, vice president, Corporate Responsibility, IHG. “Our hotel owners and guests have made eco-awareness a priority in their lives, and we welcome that kind of social responsibility in all that we do and offer throughout our brand portfolio. This partnership is a great opportunity to leverage our scale to both reduce the impact on the environment and provide a benefit for global communities.”

Each day, 9,000 children around the world die from acute respiratory illness and diarrheal diseases that can be prevented by washing with bar soap. Clean the World has a mission to put soap in the hands of people who need it most to improve and promote hygiene and sanitary living conditions and to lessen the impact of disease.

“IHG brings its impressive and well-known portfolio of hotels to our global hygiene revolution,” says Shawn Seipler, Co-founder and CEO at Clean the World. “By recognizing the value of amenities recycling, and encouraging individual IHG properties to join our partnership program, IHG displays tremendous corporate support for social responsibility and a concern for protecting our planet. As a leader in the global hospitality industry, IHG’s embrace of Clean the World will signal to its loyal guests that sustainability is a shared commitment, and that every day is Earth Day when you stay at an IHG hotel.”

Clean the World recently achieved a major milestone with the global distribution of more than 10 million soap bars in just three years of operation. The soaps are often packaged as part of sustainable hygiene kits, which include recycled bottled amenities and other hygiene-related items collected from Clean the World hotel partners throughout North America. Recent distributions of soaps and hygiene kits have been made to communities in Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone.

About Clean the World Foundation Inc.
Clean the World Foundation Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. The Foundation executes its mission of saving millions of lives around the globe by leading a global hygiene revolution to distribute recycled soap and hygiene products to children and families suffering from high death rates due to the top two killers of children worldwide – acute respiratory infection (pneumonia) and diarrheal diseases (cholera). For more information visit: www.cleantheworld.org. Text CLEAN to 20222 to donate $10 to help Clean the World (Messaging and data rates apply). Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates on how you can help save lives with soap.

About InterContinental Hotels Group
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organization with nine hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, as well as our two newest brands, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE™ Hotels & Resorts. IHG also manages Priority Club® Rewards, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty program with over 63 million members worldwide.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,400 hotels and more than 658,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories, and has more than 1,100 hotels in its development pipeline.

IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 new people worldwide across its estate over the next few years and is committed to gender balance throughout its business. We aspire to continue retaining a minimum of 25% female representation on the Board.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.priorityclub.com for more on Priority Club Rewards. For our latest news, visit www.ihg.com/media, www.twitter.com/ihgplc or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

Raising the Bar on Health and Hygiene in Guatemala

If ever you feel down in the dumps, consider the people who live there.

Clean the World and several passionate hospitality partners traveled to Guatemala in March to distribute freshly pressed soap bars to children and families in disadvantaged communities, some of whom live in the dumps -- literally.

Accompanying Clean the World staff members Rosanna Kingston and Holly Boland on this particular soap distribution trip were William Kellock and Becki Greif from Concord Hospitality, Keith Levit and Lois Hefling from Lakeview Hotels & Resorts in Canada, and Blair and Brooke Christianson from Canalta Hotels in Canada.

Venturing into the landfill to find families in need of better hygiene was simple in theory, but difficult in practice. The roughly 20,000 individuals who live on the edge of the Guatemala City Dumps struggle daily for survival, and the gift of a fresh bar of soap is a welcome and necessary hygiene product to stop the spread of disease, and also a bit of fresh-smelling hope for a cleaner, healthier life.

Demand for hygiene products is immense in this very poor region of Guatemala where children often pick through the landfill trash to find food, clothing, and other basic items just to survive. While it is difficult to imagine the daily struggles faced by individuals living in such poverty, it was a relief to see the smiles on faces of many, particularly the children, when they received soaps distributed by Clean the World and its adventurous partners in hygiene.

Keith Levit, president of Lakeview Hotels, is also a professional photographer. He captured many of the dramatic images of this soap distribution journey, which are highlighted in this photo gallery.

A total of nearly 13,000 soap bars were distributed in various locations surrounding Guatemala City, including 5,000 at the Guatemala City Dumps; 5,000 at Maria Teresa Ghetto; 2,000 at Hogar Solidario Virgen de la Esperanza Orphanage in Guatemala City; and nearly 1,000 at Dorie's Promise Guatemala Orphanage.

The visit to Dorie's Promise, a privately-run orphanage owned by Forever Changed International from which 400 orphans have been adopted into loving homes, really had an impact on at least one member of the group.

“It is incredible for me to see how they have been able to look out for these children, giving them a better life than they clearly had before,” says Concord Hospitality's Kellock. “I am looking for the opportunity to spread the word about the great work that is being done here.”

Clean the World has scheduled a second trip to Guatemala in late April, which will feature more soap distribution adventures and include hospitality partners from Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Clean the World celebrity spokesperson Mariana Klaveno.

Starwood Passes Sustainability Milestone

Summary: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Passes Sustainability Milestone with Clean the World – More than 50,000 Hotel Rooms Recycling Soaps and Bottled Amenities

Collection of guest room amenities in less than one year exceeds 278,000 lbs. of hygiene products recycled and distributed to stop the spread of preventable diseases worldwide

Less than one year after becoming corporate partners, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) has reached a significant sustainability milestone with Clean the World Foundation Inc.

Starwood, one of the world’s leading hotel and leisure companies, has surpassed 50,000 hotel rooms participating in the Clean the World amenities recycling program. The hotel rooms represent nearly 30 percent of the total Starwood properties in North America.

Clean the World and Starwood announced a corporate partnership on Earth Day, 2011. Since joining Clean the World’s hospitality partnership program, Starwood properties have contributed more than 278,000 lbs. of hygiene products – soaps, shampoos, conditioners, body washes, and lotions – which would have been discarded as trash were it not for recycling efforts provided by Clean the World.

Clean the World Foundation Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization committed to stopping the spread of preventable diseases by collecting, recycling and distributing hotel guest room amenities to children and families in the United States, Canada, and more than 45 countries. Additionally, Clean the World has helped divert more than 1.4 million lbs. of hotel waste from local landfills through its sustainable and socially responsible efforts.

Through a series of webinars with Starwood properties and a strategic internal marketing and communications campaign, Starwood has steadily added properties to Clean the World’s growing list of more than 1,300 hospitality partners in North America. There are now 150 Starwood properties, representing all brands, enrolled in the Clean the World amenities recycling program, up from 31 individual properties when the corporate agreement was announced last year.

“Our goal in the first year of participation with Clean the World was to achieve 25% adoption among our North American properties, and we have exceeded that goal,” says Jennifer Bauchner, director of rooms and sustainability, Starwood North America Operations. “Once our property managers understand the environmental and social impact of amenities recycling and how that leads to employee engagement and customer interest , they are eager  to support Clean the World.”

Each day 9,000 children around the world die from diseases such as acute respiratory illness and diarrheal diseases that can be prevented by washing with bar soap. Clean the World has a mission to put soap in the hands of people who need it most to improve hygiene and sanitation conditions and to lessen the impact of disease and promote better hygiene and living conditions worldwide.

“Starwood has been a remarkable partner from the start and this milestone is an example of how corporate support can lead to adoption of sustainable and socially responsible initiatives at individual properties,” says Shawn Seipler, co-founder at CEO at Clean the World. “As our first corporate partner, Starwood recognizes the value of our comprehensive amenities recycling program and the social good it can provide with the proper encouragement and investment on the local level.”

Clean the World recently achieved a major milestone with the global distribution of more than 10 million soap bars in just three years of operation. The soaps are often packaged as part of sustainable hygiene kits, which include recycled bottled amenities and other hygiene-related items collected from Clean the World hotel partners throughout North America. Recent distributions of soaps and hygiene kits have been made in East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and Sierra Leone.

National Volunteer Week - April 15-21

While it seems like every week is volunteer week at Clean the World, the calendar makes this one official.

April 15-21 is National Volunteer Week and there will be a lot of soap recycling going on in Orlando and Las Vegas to help advance our global hygiene revolution.

More than 5,000 volunteers have helped Clean the World recycle and distribute more than 10 million soap bars in just three years of operation. We'd love to welcome another 5,000 this year alone to help us grow exponentially in the immediate future to address the hygiene needs of children and families worldwide. In fact, we love volunteers so much we even created a video about them. Click here!

Rosanna Kingston, volunteer coordinator at Clean the World headquarters in Orlando, anticipates increased participation among school, church and community groups in the coming months.

"We're heading toward the end of the school year and many students are trying to accumulate community service credits," she says. "We always welcome students and adults to help us sanitize soap, sort bottled amenities, and help us put together hygiene kits for distribution in disadvantaged communities. I think we'll see more activity during National Volunteer Week and through the Spring and Summer months as we continue to save lives with soap."

Volunteer opportunities also exist in Clean the World's Las Vegas facility where volunteer coordinator Kevin Williams regularly sets bottled amenities aside for eager volunteers.

"There are so many bottles to sort and separate -- shampoos, conditioners, body lotions and body washes," he says. "With so many amenities coming in from each day from our generous Western regional partners, there is no shortage of volunteer opportunities for anyone willing to jump in and give us a hand."

Clean the World volunteers are encouraged to join us this Saturday, April 21, in Orlando at a Volunteer Carnival sponsored by Heart of Florida United Way. Volunteers will staff the Clean the World booth and help assemble 150 hygiene kits for homeless individuals and disadvantaged children in central Florida.

If you'd like to join in the volunteer fun this week or any other, please contact Rosanna Kingston (rkingston@cleantheworld.org) in Orlando or Kevin Williams (kwilliams@cleantheworld.org) in Las Vegas to schedule a volunteer visit and help Clean the World.