Last year, I wrote about and gave to The Global Soap Project, brainchild of the handsome, brilliant, funny and irresistibly charismatic Derreck Kayongo. I called my post “Faith, Soap & Charity” and I liked Derreck so much, I did a video interviewing him and sent it to Oprah in the hopes that she would put him on her show. Apparently, my interview technique didn’t quite do him justice, but ..
Derreck, sending 2.5 tons of soap off to South Sudan!
It turns out that the CNN Heroes program has found him quite irresistible, too, and nominated Derreck for its ultimate prize.
So today I’m asking you to take 20 seconds, click on this link, and cast your vote for Derreck and the Global Soap Project. If he wins, Derreck will be granted $250,000 for his quest to convert the 2.5 million bars of hotel soap we cast off every day, and make something clean, fresh and life-saving out of them.
You see, soap is the first line of defense against acute respiratory and diarrhea diseases, especially in children under the age of five. And good hand-washing can reduce those diseases by 40-60%!
The Ritz is in ... are you?
With Global Soap Project’s reconstituted, spanking new soaps, Derreck Kayongo is blowing tiny bubbles of hope in the scourge of poverty and disease in refugee camps across Africa. And that gets my vote every time! 
(You can vote up to 10 times a day — which I think is kinda bogus of CNN, quite frankly. Whatever happened to One Man, One Vote??? This must be a new Citizens United by-product …but I digress)— Click to vote repeatedly, right here!
What Gives 
For you, I’ll vote for him. smile.
We’ve been associated with a business where when employees travel on their nickel they’re requested to bring back all the hotel goodies they get and then they’re given to the local homeless.
My husband routinely brings home every single amenity the hotel offers, so over the years, we have had PILES of soaps, shampoos, conditioners and body lotion to donate to shelters — but Derreck is taking it to a whole new level! Thanks for the vote (and the comments!!)
I voted also, 2x’s, but on the same page with CNN voting rules being bogus. I’ll try to remember to go back and vote again later.
Thanks, Deborah — and yeah, it’s so transparently opportunistic that CNN will let you vote 10 times a day — much less even twice ever! This is the kind of thing they should be investigating! ha!
Have a great day & thanks for voting!!
I voted for Derreck and I hope he wins–great cause Betty.
Just an FYI: the CNN video was not operational when I tried it.
The video forces you to go through youtube — but it will (should) work if you just let it load. I hope … Thanks for the vote!!!
Yay, I have actually always wanted to vote early and vote often! Finally….
me too … except when you know other people will vote earlier … and oftener …. thanks for writing, Laurie!!
voted! what a novel idea; seems like there would be no end to the throw-aways that could be recycled…. when I worked at a restaurant in Germany, the scraps from food preparation were collected daily by a pig farmer to augment the feed for his farm.
I think our parents always used to be better at recycling than we were — it was part of being cheap … i mean thrifty! My mom literally used every scrap of aluminum foil about 5 times.
We’ve just gotten so used to being so excessive in every aspect of our lives .. that’s the blog i’m going to be writing about next!! THANKS, Meredith, for writing & voting!