Tour-goer Triggers Titanic Toiletry Drive
Attending a Salvation Army “Beyond the Red Kettle Tour” prompted Kathy Ayers to collect a truckload of soap, shampoo, toothpaste and more for Harbor Light Shelter residents.

It didn’t take Kathy Ayers long to put two and two together. What she had, the less fortunate needed.

Her revelation occurred last fall, when she attended a “Beyond the Red Kettle Tour” at The Salvation Army Harbor Light Shelter in Minneapolis. The free, one-hour tours are given monthly at Harbor Light and four other Army facilities for no reason other than to show the public how The Salvation Army changes lives.

“I remember the tour guide talking about how people come in off the streets and need hygiene supplies,” said Ayers (pictured), a real estate specialist at UnitedHealth Group.

Then it hit her: She had four cases of toiletries from her father, a traveling railroad worker who stockpiled mini shampoos, soaps and lotions from the hotels he frequented.

“I thought, ‘Oh – I have four cases Harbor Light could use,’ ” Ayers recalled.

But Ayers, who is also the volunteer director at UnitedHealth, didn’t stop with her father’s stash. She started a whopping toiletry drive that yielded a truckload of hygiene products from hotels, dental offices and her fellow employees at 15 metro area UnitedHealth Group facilities.

In late June, a dozen UnitedHealth volunteers sorted piles of donated shampoo bottles, deodorant, toothpaste and more, then plopped them into plastic bags and delivered the hygiene kits to Harbor Light. (Click here to view photos.)

“Most people do not understand the immeasurable difference that simple necessities like soap or toothpaste can make in the life of a person struggling to reclaim their dignity and life,” said Major Darryl Leedom, Commander of the Twin Cities Salvation Army. “We are extremely thankful for the generosity of Kathy and UnitedHealth Group.”

Ayers’ commitment to The Salvation Army hasn’t stopped. She became so smitten with Harbor Light after her tour that she is now a regular volunteer, cooking lunch for the less fortunate every other Saturday.

Beyond the Red Kettle Tours are given four times a month at five Salvation Army facilities. More than 700 people have attended the tours in the past year and a half.

To learn more about the tours, click here.