The Right to Shower Joins The World's Big Sleep Out to Call for an End to Homelessness

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, December 7, The Right to Shower teamed up with The World's Big Sleep Out in London, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to sleep out overnight as part of a call for an end to global homelessness. Alan Jope, Unilever CEO, Sunny Jain, President of Unilever Beauty and Personal Care and Esi Eggleston Bracey, EVP & COO of Unilever Beauty and Personal Care NA joined The Right to Shower, makers of award-winning head-to-toe cleansers, to help create the world's largest display of support for people experiencing homelessness and displacement and to raise money for charities that work to end homelessness.

"The Right to Shower was inspired to sleep out for the more than 553,000 people in the U.S. who are currently living on the streets without safe, reliable access to the everyday services many of us take for granted, including a shower," said Laura Fruitman, Co-Founder and General Manager of The Right to Shower. "The 60,000 people who slept out overnight across the globe helped shine a spotlight on this often-unseen community. We share The World's Big Sleep Out's belief that by building advocacy, creating conversation and working together, we can make a difference and ensure that everyone has a right to dignity."

Sale of every The Right to Shower bar soap and body wash helps unlock access to hygiene for people experiencing homelessness – not only by supporting mobile shower organizations like Lava Mae, but also Lava Mae's Replication Support program, which provides resources, guidance and hands-on help to individuals and organizations from across the country who are launching mobile showers in their communities.

"We were thrilled to have the support of The Right to Shower at The World's Big Sleep Out," said Josh Littlejohn, Founder of The World's Big Sleep Out campaign and Co-Founder of Social Bite. "With their help, we can continue to bring awareness to the homelessness crisis and get others involved in supporting the cause year-round."

The Right to Shower was created as a social enterprise, a sustainable model that gives back 30% of profits over time to deliver long-term impact. In its first year, to kickstart the mobile shower operations of its partners by investing in their upfront costs and infrastructure, The Right to Shower donated 100% of its profits. As a result, The Right to Shower helped provide more than 30,000 showers to 9,000 people living on the streets. Working with Lava Mae and its network of mobile shower providers, The Right to Shower has expanded access to mobile shower services in 16 communities across the country, from Providence, Rhode Island to Austin, Texas and Oakland, California.

ABOUT THE RIGHT TO SHOWER

The Right to Shower is a new line of shower products fighting to give access to showers to people living on the streets - 100% of profits are being donated to mobile shower organizations across the country in 2019. The Right to Shower includes gel and bar head-to-toe cleansers made with 100% naturally derived and organic cleansing ingredients in 4 variants: Dignity, Joy, Hope, and Strength. The Right to Shower is available to purchase at Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market, Meijer, Fairway, and Wegman's.

Visit TheRightToShower.com to learn about how you can join the Right to Shower Movement by donating and volunteering with our partners or partnering with us yourself to expand access to hygiene, dignity, and opportunity to people experiencing homelessness.

ABOUT UNILEVER

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day. In the United States and Canada, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Degree, Dollar Shave Club, Dove, Hellmann's, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Love Beauty and Planet, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Pure Leaf, Q-tips, Seventh Generation, Simple, Sir Kensington's, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TAZO, TIGI, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) underpins the company's strategy and commits to:

• Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020.
• Halving the environmental impact of our products by 2030.
• Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

The USLP creates value by driving growth and trust, eliminating costs and reducing risks. In 2018, the company's Sustainable Living Brands grew 69% faster than the rest of the business, compared to 46% in 2017.

Since 2010 we have been taking action through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to help more than a billion people improve their health and well-being, halve our environmental footprint and enhance the livelihoods of millions of people as we grow our business. We have already made significant progress and continue to expand our ambition – most recently committing to ensure 100% of our plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. While there is still more to do, we are proud to have been recognized in 2018 as sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and as the top ranked company in the GlobeScan/SustainAbility Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders survey, for the eighth-consecutive year. 

For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com 
For more information on the USLP: www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/

CONTACT:
Caleigh Burgess / Edelman
917.344.4641
[email protected]

SOURCE Unilever North America