400 Pounds of Shampoo Donated to Homeless Students in Central Florida

Today CTWF gave approximately 400 pounds of donated shampoo to the Central Florida Hospitality and Lodging Association’s (CFHLA) drive to provide homeless students in Central Florida with every day supplies. Items being collected included essentials such as soap, deodorant, combs, shaving cream, toothpaste and band-aids.

According to CFHLA Cares, the charitable arm of CFHLA, there are nearly 3,000 transient students attending classes in Orange and Osceola Counties, some of whom live in temporary housing conditions such as motels and vehicles.

It was an incredible experience to pull up to the Buena Vista Palace Hotel parking lot full of CFHLA volunteers taking donations out of people’s cars and loading them into a large van. Along with a donation table full of donated items on display, there were two school busses packed with donated items from across both counties. To make the event even more memorable, everyone donating was greeted by the upbeat tunes of the Osceola High School Marching Band.

CTWF hopes to donate even more soap and shampoo to the CFHLA Cares collection drive in November.

Second shampoo delivery takes place.

Our second shampoo delivery took place today. This time I went with Shawn Seipler, our executive director, and Oscar Gonzalez who works in Partner Relations. We went to two different Orlando organizations, Central Care Mission and Covenant House.

We first met William Lowry at Central Care Mission. It is a really nice facility just outside of downtown where men are supplied basic living needs and employment as well as spiritual, personal and career counseling, education and training. William was happy to show us around the well-maintained property as he told us of the trials and tribulations he's gone through over the years to get where the mission is today. He is extremely proud of the "home-grown" companies that employ the residents there, including the recent Threads of Compassion, an on-site custom embroidery and garment print business.

Next was Covenant House, an organization who provides shelter and other services to homeless, runaway and throwaway youth. Our shampoo donations we welcomed with a smile by the receptionist and several of the residents in the lobby. While doing a little bit of research on Covenant House I came across a recent study on homeless youth that was shocking. It reported that half of the kids who enter Covenant House are reporting violence in the home and one in five report being beaten by an object. A very frightening thought. I'm glad to know that these kids are in a better place now.

First shampoo deliveries made!

It was a great day today! Clean the World Foundation distributed 32 pounds of shampoo each to two outstanding homeless service centers in Orlando, Christian Service Center at Coalition for the Homeless.

Noel Alamo from CTWF Operations and myself first met with Rich Giaquinto at Christian Service Center. When we pulled up to the center we noticed there we many homeless people just outside the gates of the center and it hit me that were we going to be helping these people in a small way...perhaps as soon as today! We pulled around back to unload the shampoo and that's where we met Rich who had just finished unloading donated food from his large box truck. Rich was really happy to see us and was thankful for the shampoo. We snapped a quick picture with Rich, and Noel and I were off to our second delivery.

We quickly discovered that Coalition for the Homeless is just a few blocks away from Christian Service Center. Upon arrival, I was surprised to see how many buildings there were in the complex. Families were walking around, people were socializing in an open area shaded by trees and children we playing at the Downtown Orlando Boys & Girls Club playground on the other side of the parking lot. The sheer size of it made me realize how many people there are without a home and it felt good being able to contribute to making their lives a little more comfortable.

We met up Sharon Smith who greeted us with a warm smile and was very grateful for the shampoo. She spoke about how much she needs shampoo in small bottles like ours because often the people that use them throw the bottles away just after one use, no matter how big or small the bottle is. I snapped a quick photo of Noel, Sharon and some of the children at the center who loved the attention. All thanked us as we left. What a great feeling. What a great day.