Beirut, December xx, 2016: Soap for Hope project, a soap recycling scheme that creates livelihoods for the needy was recently launched at Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand & Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace in partnership with Sealed Air Diversey through their distributor in Lebanon Arabian Group and The Society of Saint Vincent De Paul Charity (SSVP). The Soap for Hope is a first of its kind initiative in Lebanon which aims at not only cleaning and preventing illness, but also alleviating financial hardships.
The program recycles used hotel soaps into fresh bars for distribution in local communities with limited access to hygiene and sanitation in collaboration with Arabian Group. This initiative is a Joint Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity taking place across Hilton Hotels worldwide and fits within Hilton’s CSR culture and guidelines of serving and giving back to the community.
The event was in collaboration and in the presence of Mr. Khalil Nader, SSVP Vice-President, Mrs. Christiane Debbaneh, SSVP Vice-President, Mr. Richard Nader, SSVP Director and Clara el Kallassi, SSVP representative of the NGO that is handling the recycling of the collected used soap from the two Hilton properties, Nader Hashem From Sealed Air and the provider of the recycling machine and Christian Daher from Arabian Company distributor of Sealed Air in Lebanon who will be providing training on the use of the recycling machine to SSVP NGO as well as Naif Zureikat, GM Hilton Beirut and Wafa Zreik, Director of HR and Training at Hilton Beirut. All attendees had the chance to watch a live demonstration on the soap recycling process and to try to create the soap bricks themselves.
Naïf Zureikat said, “Hilton strongly believes in the Soap for Hope project as it saves lives, provides livelihood, and prevents waste. Our collaboration is already one of the best Travel with Purpose stories in EMEA and at a global level, and by expanding this project we are really demonstrating how Hilton can be a leader of change in our communities. So far we have collected 38 Kg of soaps and gave it to SSVP.”
Nader Hachem said, “Most people in the Lebanese community work scavenging rubbish which is then re-sold. Many of those people do not have access to soaps and if they fall ill, they are unable to work, and may get into financial hardship. This is why we are eager to be part of this unique initiative which addresses an important issue, not addressed before in the region.”
SSVP was founded in Beirut in 1860 with a main objective of providing assistance to the poorer and supply them with their most urgent needs. Through this initiative, SSVP was given the opportunity to run a business yet earn income by making the soaps.