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This is our blog that will keep you updated on how our work is going. Find photos, posts, and more from our recent endeavors here.
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This is our blog that will keep you updated on how our work is going. Find photos, posts, and more from our recent endeavors here.
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The goal of any social enterprise is to improve the world by solving some problem. What this means, is that ultimate success for a social enterprise is going out of business! If the problem you set out to solve is solved, by your work and the collective work of society, then your enterprise is no longer needed. This is a very strange position to be in, especially if you are employed by the enterprise. On one hand, you want desperately to be successful. After all, you did dedicate a tremendous amount of time and effort into this project. But on the other hand, you want to stay employed and continue working on this enterprise. Despite this, if the problem you were trying to solve is solved, your work in that area is done, and it is time to move on to a different area where you can make an impact.
Luckily for us (or maybe not - we are broke college students after all), Shampoo Shuttle does not generate any revenue; we do it simply because we care about the problem we set out to solve and believe in our mission. But we are beginning to get to the point where one of the two problems we connected is being solved. That is absolutely amazing! We are thrilled that hotels are realizing the environmental impact they are having and deciding to cut down on single use shampoo and conditioner bottles. As more and more hotels continue to make this change, our earth will become more green. In doing this, there will be less product waste and less plastic waste, which is fantastic. This development does jeopardize Shampoo Shuttle, but we believe all progress leads to the end of true social enterprises. In our case however, only one of two very important problems is disappearing. We still see shelters in need of personal care items and we know the homeless population is still not receiving the respect and dignity they deserve. Because of this, we are brainstorming how we can adjust our process here at Shampoo Shuttle to continue to serve the homeless population with the personal care items they need. Lastly, we would like to note that although many hotels are beginning to turn away from small bottles of product, not all have made this commitment yet. We encourage those who have not to consider their environmental impact. We at Shampoo Shuttle will continue to do our work until it is no longer feasible. We are brainstorming new business models in preparation for the future. Check out some of the news articles to read more about hotels making this change and keep following along to see where the shuttle is headed next!
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2/10/2019 0 Comments Next Gen SuccessThe first bottling event of 2019 took place at a Learning through Action summit at NMH. We had many students attend the event and all the extra hands made the bottling go by quickly. There was lots of hard work and lots of smiles - exactly what we love to see! We would also like to give a huge welcome to Natalie Foster, Mia Bacon, and Emily Pham, the new directors of the NMH branch of Shampoo Shuttle. They led this event and will continue to lead the branch for the next couple of years. We are very excited to begin working with them and so happy that Shampoo Shuttle is continuing at NMH.
2/1/2018 0 Comments New Partner!Thanks to all the re-bottling we accomplished during out Learning Through Action workshop, we had enough supplies to not only restock at the Salvation Army, but also to expand our reach to Northampton, MA. A little while back we contacted the Northampton Survival Center and they were eager to partner with us. When we arrived with our first delivery for them, they were extremely appreciative and said it was the perfect contribution and just what they needed. Although the Northampton Survival Center does not provide showers like the Salvation Army, they have a large food pantry and offer lots of other services and products to those in need in the community. With the mission to improve the quality of life for low-income individuals and families throughout Hampshire County by providing nutritious food and other resources in an atmosphere of dignity and respect, the Northampton Survival Center is a great partner for us. We are glad that they put the same emphasis on dignity and respect that we find so essential. We look forward to staying in contact with them and setting up a regular delivery schedule. 1/28/2018 0 Comments Learning Through Action SummitLast Sunday we had the opportunity to run a workshop for the Learning Through Action Summit at Northfield Mount Hermon. Six students came to our workshop and got their hands dirty helping us re-bottle shampoo and body wash. We started off with a short presentation about what Shampoo Shuttle does, how we started, and how it has grown. We then got right to work bottling the products. Each student took on the challenge enthusiastically and we were happy to share our work with them. In less than an hour, we were able to process two full boxes of shampoo and body wash that we had collected from the Hampton Inn the weekend before. We really appreciate their time and energy because what took them an hour would have taken us a whole day. It is always nice to share what we've been working on with others, and we were happy to get more people engaged in the cause.
If you are local and would like to help out bottling, please contact us through the contact page of this website. We are always looking for more volunteers! 1/2/2018 0 Comments Toothbrush TaxiBased on the results from our recent survey, we have come up with some ideas to expand our services. There were a few common suggestions that people mentioned, including a need for toothbrushes. Following our business model of connecting an excess resource with a place it is needed, we are looking into partnering with dentist offices. We know that many dentist offices give away toothbrushes to clients after their visit, and we also know that not all clients need or use this complimentary item. With this in mind, we are hoping to jump in and provide a donation option for this excess resource. Rather than taking the toothbrush home and putting it in a drawer to never be used, people will have the option to put it in a collection box which we will pick up periodically and deliver to the Salvation Army for distribution. We will be getting in contact with dentist offices soon to see what we can work out. If you have any other ideas or suggestions on how we can provide toothbrushes (or other products) please feel free to comment below! 12/21/2017 0 Comments Bell RingersWe learned that the Salvation Army needed more bell ringers for this holiday season after talking to the Captain during our last visit. By working with NMH, we were able to get a group of students to volunteer and ring bells for the Salvation Army. This past Tuesday I spent two hours ringing bells with friends and family at the Stop and Shop in Greenfield. We had a great time and it was inspiring to see how many people donate to the Salvation Army.
There was one man in particular who stood out to me. He passed by the bucket with all his groceries and walked across the parking lot. He then came all the way back to the bucket with money in his hand to donate. He said he always donates to the Salvation Army and is really appreciative of the work they do. It is thanks to people like him that the Salvation Army can continue doing the important work it does. Here's a little bit more about the program: "The Red Kettle Christmas Campaign enables The Salvation Army to provide food, toys and clothing to over 6 million people during the Christmas season and helps more than 34 million Americans recovering from all kinds of personal disasters nationwide. The Red Kettle campaign, first started in San Francisco in 1891, has traditionally been the Salvation Army's most prominent fund-raiser." 11/25/2017 0 Comments Survey ResultsWe conducted the survey a few days ago at the Salvation Army and had the opportunity to meet many of the people we work for. When we arrived, we were welcomed with open arms by all the people enjoying a warm Thanksgiving meal. After the Captain introduced us, we passed out a brief anonymous survey with questions about our services and the services the Salvation Army offers. We also left room for suggestions on how we can improve and better serve the population we have been helping for the past several months. Two men generously stepped up to help us conduct the survey, by writing down answers for those who couldn't write and reading the questions out load to those who couldn't read. With their help we were able to get over 35 surveys filled out! The survey results were incredibly empowering and it was great to see how much people love and appreciate everything the Salvation Army does. Many people remarked about the Salvation Army providing a second home and a comforting community. We also found that 78% of people like to take home the shampoo, which confirms that the travel-size bottles are the most convenient for people. The surveys also revealed that there are some other products such as toothbrushes, towels, and feminine hygiene products that people would like to see offered. Using this feedback, we are going to try to come up with ways to provide these additional services. If you have any ideas, please comment below! More on our progress to come! 11/20/2017 0 Comments Bottle, bottle, bottle!
11/2/2017 1 Comment 3D Printing to the Rescue!
9/25/2017 0 Comments Improving Processing Time
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