Experiencing the Clorox Mission to Make Everyday Life Better, Every Day

By Mariana Gonzalez, Brand Manager – Northern Latin America

Children who have benefitted from the Clorox Safe Water Project

I’m going to tell you about one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.

It started about a year ago. That’s when Clorox asked employees to share ideas for ways to make the Clorox Safe Water Project even more impactful. To sweeten the deal, they promised one employee the chance to visit the Safe Water Project communities in Peru.

I got to be that employee.

The Clorox Safe Water Project is a partnership between Clorox and Prisma, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), to bring safe water to more than 25,000 people in Northern Peru. Together, we’ve been installing bleach dispensers near water collection sites and educating people on how to use bleach to sanitize water for drinking, cleaning and cooking since 2012.

Making a difference

As soon as we heard about the contest, my teammates and I knew we wanted to participate. We handle marketing for North Latin America and are located across the region. For example, I’m based in Mexico.

We saw the invitation as an opportunity to make a difference and help people in Peru. We were so passionate about this project and had so many ideas, we ended up submitting three of them.

Mariana Gonzalez (center) with Andreina Febres (left) of the Clorox Safe Water Project and a local woman.

Proud to be a Clorox employee

I felt so honored to be able to represent my team in Peru and live the full experience.

It started in Lima, the capital of Peru. There, the Safe Water team from Clorox (who manage the project), briefed me on what the next three days would bring. I also met the Prisma (NGO) team and the Clorox Peru team that provides the bleach we supply to the communities.

Then we flew to Piura, a town in Northern Peru closest to the communities where the Safe Water Project operates.

It was eye-opening to see firsthand what some people need to do just to access water — and then what they have to do to disinfect that water. It brought home how something I take for granted — pouring a glass of clean, purified water straight from my tap — is a major effort for people elsewhere in the world.

I started to understand the significance of all those statistics around people who don’t have easy access to safe water.

And I also started to understand the impact of this Clorox program.

Clorox making everyday life better in Northern Peru

At the Tambogrande Health Center, I heard that the Clorox Safe Water Project had helped reduce the number of water-borne illnesses in the region. Our bleach dispensers were improving people’s lives so they could thrive.

I also got to watch three communities graduate from the program. They were so well trained in the cleaning and disinfecting process, they didn’t need the same level of support from Clorox and Prisma.

It was amazing to see how much people had learned from this program about keeping their families healthy. To me, the most valuable accomplishment of the Safe Water Project is making people aware of the importance of clean water.

I left Peru more passionate than ever to keep educating people on how important is to clean and disinfect water.

I feel so proud to work for a company that cares about people and making everyday life better, every day.