PALM BEACH, FL -- In the era of swine flu, it's something most of us take for granted.
But what if you couldn't do something as simple as washing your hands?
Thousands of people around the world and even in this country can't do so.
Many hotels including two in Palm Beach County and two on the Treasure Coast are stepping in to help.
The Breakers in Palm Beach, Hotel Biba in West Palm Beach, Homewood Suites by Hilton in Port St. Lucie, and Road Runner Travel Resort in Fort Pierce plus dozens of other hotels are providing life-saving soap to thousands of people who can't afford it.
"Once it's been in a room and been opened even if you've just used a tiny little bit where does it all go," says hotel guest Lynn Watson.
Hotels throw away more than a million bars of soap a day.
A new organization called Clean the World collects those barely-used little hotel soaps and shampoos from all of these hotels, sanitizes them, steams them, packages them then sends them to local homeless shelters and overseas where thousands of children die from diseases stemming from poor hygiene.
"If we can stop that soap from hitting landfills, recyle it, and get it to the 9,000 children who will die today because they don't have soap, lack of hygiene, then we're gonna do what Clean the World set out to do," says founder Shawn Seipler.
100 hotels have already signed on and Clean the World hopes to soon have all 4.6 million hotel rooms across the country onboard.
