Guest Blog: Improving My Local Market

Last week, I received an e-mail from Tammi of Beehive Soap and Body Care about a soap drive that she is helping the Sugar House Farmer’s Market run. She asked if I would share a blog post about this soap drive with our readers in hopes that fellow Utah soapmakers would be willing to take their soaps to the soap drive. I decided to share Tami’s e-mail with you since she has worded this in such a way, I would be hard pressed to match it.

I am participating at the Sugar House Farmer’s Market this year. I even offered some help on the Vendor Committee. When the Market Board asked for ideas from the vendor committee for event ideas to enrich the market… I immediately had a suggestion! I suggested the market host a Soap Drive for Clean the World (www.cleantheworld.org) . They loved the idea… and the soap drive was scheduled for two different dates Aug 26th and Sept. 30th. Whole Foods has agreed to sponsor the event (meaning they will pay the shipping expenses to get the donated soaps to Clean The World). Clean the World collects new soap and even partially used soaps (from hotels/motels/individuals) which is then re-processed into new bars of soap. This effort keeps literally millions of pounds of soap out of the landfill… and then it is shipped to Haiti and other areas of the world where soap is desperately needed to help stop the spread of disease! (Win/Win!!) You can read all about it on their website. I am recruiting soap from local soapmakers! It can be ends/pieces/uglies/soap that has lost fragrance/trial batches that went awry/ whatever! Soap can be dropped off at the Sugar House farmers markets on the above dates; or perhaps other drop off locations can be arranged in various locations… and then I could pick up donations prior to the final soap drive! I’m hoping for a bunch of soap!! I know I have some soap to contribute!!

In addition… hotels/motels might want to try collecting soaps for the next month or two… and add them to our soap drive! Hotel/Motel partners are key to Clean The Worlds success!

Thanks for helping spread the word! Perhaps other communities (outside of Salt Lake City) will want to organize their own soap drive!

I’m hoping its so successful that the Sugar House Farmers Market will want to do it every summer!!

Thanks!

Tami
Beehive Soap and Body Care

After sharing Tami’s e-mail with you, I want to challenge not just our Utah readers, but ALL of our readers to take a moment and see if you have soap to donate. Look in your cupboards, closets and soap storage bins to find those scraps, test batches, cosmetically challenged or even regular soap to donate. Go to your local Farmer’s Market and encourage the market coordinators to set up a Soap Drive. Like Tami, I imagine you can find a local store willing to ship the donated soap to Clean The World. Wouldn’t it be awesome if everyone could get a box together with soaps to send to Clean The World?

I’m donating some soap odds and ends. Do you think you have soaps to donate? Majestic Mountain Sage will help! I have made special arrangements that we will accept donations of soap (mailed or dropped off) until September 27th. We will take these boxes of soap down to the Sugar House Farmer’s Market on Friday, September 30th for Tami to send with the soaps she has collected. I will be at the Market with Tami at her booth from 4 pm to 8 pm so if you want to swing by and say hello, please do.