Students in Orange County, Florida (home of Orlando and Clean the World headquarters) are preparing to do a lot of soap recycling this year.

Thanks to a generous grant by TD Bank an estimated 600 students throughout the region will participate in a program with Clean the World to help bring soap and hygiene education resources to children in the United States, Canada, Haiti and more than 40 countries.

TD Bank recently awarded $15,000 to Clean the World to help fund the “Serve and Learn Program,” a service-learning project aimed at middle and high school students in public and private schools and organized youth groups. Participating students will volunteer for community service at Clean the World’s downtown Orlando recycling operations center (ROC) and will help prepare soaps for recycling and distribution to domestic communities and foreign countries in desperate need of hygiene supplies and education.

The goal of the Clean the World Serve and Learn Program is to integrate meaningful community service to enrich the learning experience for students, while also teaching civic responsibility and helping to strengthen the local community.
“TD Bank really stepped up for us with this effort, and we are very grateful for this generous grant,” says Rosanna Kingston, volunteer and special projects coordinator at Clean the World. “The students will learn first-hand about how to improve personal hygiene, the process by which we sanitize and recycle hotel soaps, and the importance of sustainability and socially responsible stewardship. It should be a really awesome program.”

Each year Clean the World hosts roughly 400 youth volunteers from schools, church groups and organizations at the Orlando ROC for interactive volunteering and hygiene education. Students come to the facility to help participate in the soap recycling process and learn more about how everyone can help stop the spread of preventable diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrheal diseases, by regular hand washing with bar soap.

The Serve and Learn Program will be formally introduced by Clean the World through school visits, social media and community events during the 2011-2012 school year.