Hope Soap FAQS
What is Hope Soap?
Hope Soap is a clearinghouse for the collection and distribution
of personal care items. Toiletries and hotel amenities, primarily
donated by business or vacation travelers, are dropped in
collection boxes located throughout the CSRA (below). Volunteers
sort and package these donations into personal care kits which
are distributed, largely through social service agencies,
to individuals who could benefit from them. Hope Soap recipients
include people in emergency or transitional shelters and housing,
homeless individuals, individuals and families in domestic
or medical crisis, individuals in residential treatment programs,
and inner city children. Hope Soap is an all-volunteer project,
with no paid staff, no office, and minimal overhead. It was
founded in Augusta, GA in 2001.
What kind of items does Hope
Soap collect?
Hope Soap collects toiletries and personal care items, such
as shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, and other travel type
amenities (shower caps, sewing kits, cotton balls, combs,
etc.) Most of items we distribute originate as hotel amenities,
though we also accept full size product donations. Additionally,
we collect toothbrushes, toothpaste and other dental hygiene
items, cosmetics, cologne, razors, deodorant, and women's
sanitary supplies.
Does Hope Soap have any special needs?
We must regularly purchase razors and women’s sanitary supplies,
as we are committed to including them in our kits for adults.
We always run very short on dental hygiene supplies and deodorant,
but do not purchase them, only distributing what we have on
hand.
Where can I drop off toiletries
for Hope Soap in the CSRA?
You can bring your donations to the following public drop-off
sites:
• Columbia
County News Times (Evans)
• Jim
Hudson Lexus (Martinez)
• Junior
League Office (Summerville area, in Surrey Center)
• North
Augusta Chamber of Commerce (North Augusta, SC)
• Unitarian
Universalist Church of Augusta (West Augusta area)
• Wild Birds Unlimited (Martinez)
We add new collection sites throughout the year, so contact
us if one of these is not convenient for you. In addition
to public drop-off sites, we have many additional sites where
collection boxes are located for "in-house" collections,
but those sites do not accept public drop-off of items.
How can I be involved with
Hope Soap?
There are many ways you can be a part of Hope
Soap.
1. Collect the hotel amenities put in your room every day
when you travel. (You pay for those amenities in your room
rate. They are yours to keep.)
2. Help get your co-workers or family members involved collecting
travel amenities.
3. Collect unused product samples, including cosmetics.
4. Shop for Hope Soap with coupons, buying full size personal
care items when you see special sales or discounts.
5. Organize a Hope Soap drive, focusing especially on those
items we do not receive in large quantities (razors, toothbrushes
and toothpaste, deodorant, women’s sanitary supplies.) Contact
us for details to help set up a Hope Soap drive.
6. Make a tax-deductible monetary donation to Big Changes
Start Small, Inc. ®, earmarked for Hope Soap, to help us pay
for the items we must buy for our kits.
7. Help get your workplace, faith community, civic organization,
or school involved with us.
8. Become a Hope Soap volunteer, helping us sort and pack
our kits.
Can I get my business/ faith
community/ school involved in Hope Soap?
We are always adding more Hope Soap collection sites, either
public or “in-house”. We also welcome organizations to partner
with us, doing personal care item drives.
Is Hope Soap connected to It’s
Spooky To Be Hungry®?
Hope Soap is a sister project of It’s Spooky To Be Hungry,
founded and supported by the same charitable organization:
Big Changes Start Small, Inc®.
What does it mean to be a Hope
Soap collection site?
Hope Soap will provide you with a covered Rubbermaid-type
box for product collection. If you have an “in-house” collection
only, we will ask you to do some internal publicity with your
group (workplace, church members, civic group) to help potential
donors remember to collect and donate toiletries. If you have
a public collection site, in addition to any internal publicity,
we will list your organization on our website, and include
it in other Hope Soap publicity. When your collection box
is full, we will come and empty it, storing donations until
we have enough for a Sort and Pack.
Who are some of the Hope Soap
recipient agencies?
Hope Soap recipients include people in emergency or transitional
shelters and housing, homeless individuals, individuals and
families in domestic or medical crisis, individuals in residential
treatment programs, and inner city children. If you are involved
with an organization which could benefit from receiving Hope
Soap kits, please contact us.
What is a Hope Soap “Sort and
Pack”?
“Sort and Pack” personal care kit assemblies are organized
on an as-needed basis, usually twice a year. At the Sort and
Pack, volunteers form a large assembly line, working together
to sort, clean, and pack into individual care kits many hundreds
of pounds of donated toiletries. The Sort and Pack mornings
are fun and productive, and appropriate for volunteers from
age 8 and up. We like to say that working at a sort and pack
morning is one of the few volunteer experiences where you
can go home smelling better (of soap and shampoo) than you
did when you arrived! For more information on how to get involved,
contact us.
