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Going Green and Doing Good in the ‘Hood
By Julie A. Baylor, CHA, LEED GA
The subject of mathematics was never my forte, so forgive me if this sounds a little elementary, but… Let’s do some quick math: There are over 7,100 hotel rooms in the Gateway to LA business district, with an average length of stay of less than 1.5 nights. If the average hotel occupancy is 70%, there are over 3,700 check-outs every day. Many of these departing guests leave having used only a small portion of the toiletries provided for their stay. What happens to all these left-over bottles of shampoos and lotions? Well, some of them get recycled, but some of them end up in a landfill. And yet, there are people right here in L.A. that are in need of these very items.
MEANWHILE…
Los Angeles is the homeless capital of the United States. In fact, L.A. has 3% of the overall U.S. population, but has 10% of the U.S. homeless population. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, up to 141,000 men, women, and children in L.A. experience homelessness over the course of a year and up to 73,000 people are experiencing homelessness each night in Los Angeles County.
LET’S PUT THIS ALL TOGETHER…
Hotels can help meet a need in our city and reduce their own waste through a new program initiated this month in the Gateway to L.A. business district: InnGage Hotel Amenity Donation Program. This program is available to hotels in the Gateway to L.A. business district at no cost. Participating hotels collect partially used amenities and separate them by type into boxes. The boxes are picked up according to a set schedule and delivered to the Union Rescue Mission. To begin participating, contact me by phone at (323) 540-4449, or by email at julie@juliebaylor.com.
ABOUT UNION RESCUE MISSION…
Established in 1891, Union Rescue Mission (URM) is one of the largest rescue missions of its kind in the United States and the oldest in Los Angeles. In the last year, the URM has provided 407,919 nights of lodging, well over 1,000 people per night on average. This new donation program is a welcomed addition to the URM. “The hygiene products are much needed and will be a huge blessing to our guests,” states Mindy Vanderhoeven, Gifts-In-Kind Specialist at Union Rescue Mission.