Meridian residents and visitors can support the Mississippi Children’s Museum-Meridian while staying clean as the museum has teamed up with Magnolia Soap and Bath Co. to offer a special MCM-Meridian soap.

Shelby Chaney, director of development and external affairs for the museum, said the idea for a custom soap was originally to be used as a giveaway for fundraising events, gift bags for local officials and other occasions. MCM-Meridian staff got in contact with Magnolia Soap and Bath Co., and the museum’s special soap was born.

MCM-Meridian staff were able to pick out the colors, scent and more to customize the soap specifically to best represent the museum, Chaney said. Magnolia Soap and Bath staff were able to guide museum representatives through the soap making process, she said, and the result was an orange and lemon-scented soap with the green, blue and yellow colors of the museum.

“They were very helpful,” she said.

Although it started as a giveaway, the soap has become another way the community can help support the children’s museum and its mission. MCM-Meridian’s custom soap continues to be sold at Magnolia Soap and Bath Co., Chaney said, and the museum gets the proceeds from its sales.

In the two and one-half years since it opened, the Mississippi Children’s Museum-Meridian has seen more than 130,000 guests representing 48 state and several countries. The museum hosts daily educational programs that have seen more than 4,500 attendees and welcomed more than 7,500 field trips.

In an Aug. 15 meeting of the Meridian City Council, MCM-Meridian Executive Director Barbara Zeller said part of the reason the museum is able to see so many children is because the cost of visits are supported by fundraising efforts. While the cost to the museum is about $23 per guest, it only charges $10 for general admission and $5 for field trips, she said.

Zeller said the purchase of annual memberships, donations and other fundraising, such as the MCM-Meridian soap, are key in helping the museum maintain its exhibits and prepare new ones, offer special programs and more.

For more information about the Mississippi Children’s Museum-Meridian, visit mschildrensmuseum.org/meridian.