How Naperville could be first winner in laundry safety challenge

With enough social media posts in a household safety campaign, Naperville could become the first community in the nation to receive a $10,000 grant through the American Cleaning Institute's Packets Up! Safety Challenge.

The campaign by the cleaning products industry organization aims to get parents to keep laundry products - especially single-load detergent pods or packets - high and out of children's reach.

If consumed, these products can be harmful, causing vomiting, trouble breathing, fluid in the lungs, seizures, burns to the esophagus, coma and possibly death, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

So the thinking behind the campaign, says Brian Sansoni, vice president of communication and outreach for the American Cleaning Institute, is that if parents keep these products out of reach, fewer kids will eat them.

"These products obviously are very concentrated detergents," Sansoni said. "They're meant to clean our clothes, but obviously, they're not meant to be ingested."

The campaign so far has involved online efforts through parenting bloggers and "influencers," but the Cleaning Institute wanted to reach out more directly to a family-oriented community and chose Naperville.

The Packets Up! Safety Challenge invites residents to post a picture on a public Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page showing laundry detergent packets and cleaning products safely stored, accompanied by the hashtag #PacketsUp. If 750 people post such photos by Nov. 16, the American Cleaning Institute will reward the community through a grant to the Naperville Park District.

The park district would use the money to support the construction next year of a community plaza at 95th Street, said Sameera Luthman, director of marketing and communications.

For an organization with an updated mission to "promote healthy lives, healthy minds and a healthy community," participating in the laundry safety campaign was a natural fit, Luthman said.

"There's great motivation behind it," Luthman said about the campaign. "It's about helping kids."

The American Cleaning Institute also has connected with the Naperville Moms Network, a forum of more than 15,000 mothers in Naperville and surrounding towns, to promote the challenge.

Network owner Cathy Subber said it's an "awesome bonus" that one participant will receive a new washer and dryer worth $2,000 as an added prize. But the true reason for her organization's participation is to promote children's safety and help the park project, which could cost between $3.6 million and $4.5 million total.

"It is exciting to be a part of something that not only helps the safety of our kids," Subber said, "but offers a donation to the Naperville Park District if their target is met."