L'Occitane's Moments in Africa soap trio benefits ORBIS, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing blindness.

We associate L’Occitane with our sense of smell, since the retailer specializes in fragrances, as well as natural beauty products. Preventing vision loss, however, is at the heart of the company’s United to Save Sight campaign. Every year since 2006, L’Occitane has created a limited-edition product and donated 100 percent of the proceeds to charity. This year, profits from the Moments in Africa Soaps ($8), a set of three depicting scenes from African life, go to ORBIS, a
nonprofit dedicated to preventing and treating avoidable blindness around the globe. Money from Moments in Africa goes to ORBIS’ project that develops ophthalmic care in isolated regions in Bangladesh; L’Occitane’s initiative last year raised $240,000 for eye examinations, treatments and operations in the Jamalpur region of the country.

The soaps also benefit another cause of the L’Occitane Foundation, which was established in 2006 to support organizations that deal with sensory handicaps and to help women in developing countries gain economic autonomy. The trio of lemongrass-, eucalyptus- and orange-scented bars were produced in Burkina Faso by co-ops of women trained by L’Occitane. The soap has a 72 percent concentration of moisturizing shea butter, made from the shea tree, native to the African country. L’Occitane has created 18 literacy centers with plans for two more in Burkina Faso, which has an 85 percent illiteracy rate. Stateside, the L’Occitane Foundation donated $40,000 to ChildSight to fund on-site vision screenings and eyeglasses for students in New York and Los Angeles through March 2010.

Seventy-five percent of blindness is treatable or preventable, and we’re glad that L’Occitane is not only helping ORBIS and ChildSight, but entrepreneurial women in Africa as well. Plus, shoppers get three moisturizing hand soaps, so everyone wins. Do you know of other buys that benefit multiple causes?

Tags: Africa, avoidable blindness, Bangladesh, blindness, Burkina Faso, Geography, L, L'Occitane en Provence, limited-edition product, Los Angeles, L’Occitane Foundation, Medicine, natural beauty products, New York City, Orbis International, Political geography, Shea butter, USD