The Hilton Garden Inn is an old hand at providing little bottles of shampoo, bars of soap and washcloths to people. But it did so in an unusual way recently, and included plenty of other items in the mix.

The downtown hotel donated bags of toiletry items — which also included toothbrushes, toothpaste and socks — to the Salvation Army, which plans to distribute them to people who come to use the shower facilities but do not have their own toiletries.

Originally asked only for a shoebox of items, the hotel went above and beyond. It packed between 100 and 150 bags of the toiletry items, with employees purchasing items for the packages.

Salvation Army board member Margie Wiley said she already knew of ways that Brian Williams, general manager, and Courtney Thompson, catering sales manager, have helped the community. But she didn’t realize how far they would go in response to her donation solicitation, she told a Suffolk News-Herald reporter this week.

“I just didn’t imagine they would give on the level that they did,” she said.

The hotel also recently made a donation to the Western Tidewater Free Clinic with office supplies.

Suffolk is fortunate to have so many businesses, both locally owned and chain locations, that are willing to help community nonprofits serve their target audiences. Whether they are providing toiletries for people who cannot afford them, office supplies to defray expenses at a free clinic, food for an after-school program, pet supplies for the humane society or any of a number of other donations we have written about through the years, it’s always good to see businesses who care.

We applaud the Hilton Garden Inn and its employees for serving their community so well.