Feel Good Friday - Toilet Twinning

You’ve heard of sister cities, but have you heard of Toilet Twinning? If not, then you’ll want to keep reading to learn more about today’s Feel Good Friday organization.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in the town of Bournemouth, in the United Kingdom, Toilet Twinning is a unique, quirky way to support people who don't have access to safe and clean toilets.

First a bit about the problem. As they explain on their website, “currently, 3.5 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation, and around 2 billion people worldwide are without access to safely managed drinking water.“ This lack of basic sanitation affects people’s education and livelihoods. In addition, “1,000 children die every day from diseases related to poor sanitation, unhealthy hygiene or unsafe drinking water.” That’s where Toilet Twinning comes in.

By encouraging people to twin toilets in their homes with toilets around the world, Toilet Twinning raises money for Tearfund which is then used to support projects that help families to build their own basic toilet, access clean water and learn about sanitation and hygiene. This work takes place in communities across 50 countries where poverty is extreme and where governments do not provide adequate water and sanitation.

The process to twin your toilet costs 60 pounds (about 80 USD) and is very straightforward. Pick a color for your certificate and the country where you want your twin to be located. Right now there are 12 options including Malawi, Nepal and Pakistan. You’ll see a picture of your toilet twin and can then customize your certificate before placing your order. You’ll be sent either a digital or framed photo of your toilet twin and it’s location which you can then post in your bathroom to raise awareness of the program. Toilet Twinning says that approximately 20% of their donations come from people who’ve seen a certificate in someone else’s bathroom!

In addition to twinning your toilet, there are other ways you can support the water, sanitation and hygiene work being done around the globe. Make a donation to Toilet Twinning and amplify their work on social media by following them on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Feel Good Friday - Engineers Without Borders USA

Odds are you've heard about Doctors Without Borders but did you know there's also an Engineers Without Borders USA? Well it's Feel Good Friday so you're about to learn.

The mission of Engineers Without Borders USA is stated on their website, "EBW-USA builds a better world through engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and equip leaders to solve the world's most pressing challenges." You can see a quick video summary of their work here.

Founded in 2002 by Dr. Bernard Amadei after he took 14 of his civil engineering students to Belize to construct a clean water system, EWB-USA is now operating in 46 countries working on 698 infrastructure projects. Volunteers in the 275 EWB-USA chapters partner directly with communities to meet their self-identified needs.

The International Community Program focuses technical assistance on the areas of water supply, civil works, sanitation, agriculture, energy and structures. Specific projects include building bridges, roads, biosand filters and harnessing solar power. In the communities that work with EWB-USA, 75% are able to sustain the projects once the engineers leave. That helps fulfill the organization's vision of "a world in which every community has the capacity to sustainably meet their basic human needs."

More experienced volunteers can join the Engineering Service Corps and provide engineering project support to governments, NGOs and United Nations agencies. These larger-scale programs focus on disaster relief, agriculture, infrastructure, water, sanitation and hygiene and energy. From improving hospital systems in Sierra Leone to rebuilding wells in Ethiopia, the Engineering Service Corps is focused on creative and lasting solutions.

Finally, for volunteers who want to stay closer to home, the Community Engineering Corps was created in 2014 to assist with engineering projects in both urban and rural communities across the United States.

If you are an engineer and want to volunteer with EWB-USA, you can learn more here. The rest of us can support this important work with a donation and by liking the Facebook page and following them on Twitter @EWBUSA.

Feel Good Friday - Clean the World Foundation

Happy Feel Good Friday! To be topical, I was going to find a way to appreciate the IRS but realized I did that last year in this post. So instead, here's an organization I learned about recently from reading a Thrillist article by Matt Meltzer - Clean the World Foundation.

As a visit to their website explains, "Clean the World is a social enterprise with the mission of saving millions of lives around the world." They do this by collecting, recycling and distributing discarded soap and amenity bottles from participating partner hotels around the world.

The organization was founded in 2009 by Shawn Spieler, after he learned that his partially used hotel soap was one of more than 2 million bars that is thrown away every DAY in the United States! Stopping this waste from ending up in the landfill is only one motivation of this organization.

Here's another. More than 1.8 million children around the world die from hygiene and sanitation related illness and disease such as pneumonia and cholera. One of the most effective ways to prevent these deaths? Washing your hands with soap and water.

Since it's inception, Clean the World has donated more than 40 million bars of soap in over 115 countries! They start by collecting soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion products from their hospitality partners and bringing it to one of their distribution facilities in Orlando, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, London and Quebec. Soap is run through a cleaning process and recycled. Bottled products are sorted and those that are more than 75% full get cleaned and included in hygiene kits.

Clean the World then partners with other non-profit organizations and NGOs to distribute the bars of soap and hygiene kits to homeless shelters in the U.S. and to children and families in communities around the world. You can watch this video which explains their process, but be warned the music is very melodramatic.

If you like what they're doing and want to help you can! People who live near Orlando, Vegas or Hong Kong can volunteer in a distribution center and no matter where you live, you can host an event to build hygiene kits or support them with a donation.

The next time you stay in a hotel, find out if they participate in this program so you can share it on Clean the World's Facebook page and give them a shout out on Twitter @CleantheWorld.