Doing Good

I forgot to mention in my birthday post from 7 days ago (that was 3 months late), that my sister-in-law also got me these reusable bags from Target:

And they work really well! After a summer of travel and trying all these different reusable food containers, my absolute favorite are the Bumkin brand snack bags:

Santa can ABSOLUTELY bring me more of these for Christmas. Especially the turquoise mountain pack. 😉

#noshame

So last Sunday, I followed through on my project of handing out reusable produce bags at my church. I FINALLY got my flyer finished. It was challenging because I had so much I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to sound too much like a granola munching tree hugger (even if that is what I am) or too elitist.

…Or just stupid.

But I think where I landed was OK, even if I had a lot more to say. I stuck with the teacher principle – KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). And I decided to be proud of it, make all my copies, and move on.

In total, I had 270 reusable produce bags in 3 different sizes. The sets that I ordered from Amazon had 3 Large, 9 Medium, and 3 Small. It didn’t take long for me to have them sorted by size….

And then to have my 4 year old “help” my laying on top of them all and saying he had to nap RIGHT on top of the bags and that I had plenty of space.

#lifewithlittleones

I had no idea how to go about bundling them. Should they just be a single hand out? Hand out 2 to everyone? How can I attach 2-3 together without plastic or rubber bands?

With being declined by 3 different grocery stores to hand them out, I got nervous about getting rid of them all. I really didn’t want to be left with a lot leftover or have to drag this out for a long time.

So I finally opted to bundle 3 together (some had one of each size, and some were all 3 Medium-sized), while wrapping my flyer around the outside and securing it with the cinch string from one of the bags.

Is it weird to say I was proud of how they were bundled? I’m going to say it anyways: “I’m the most amazing person in the world for figuring out how to bundle reusable produce bags and a flyer and nobody else could have done it like this.” 😉

So after setting some aside for people at school who said they were interested in having some, and after several episodes of Paw Patrol and the Handmaid’s Tale (depending on who was in the room at my house at the time) – I had a reusable grocery bag full of my bundles.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get rid of all of them. In fact, before handing them out at my church, I even checked with a couple other people about handing them out at their churches too….just in case.

During church, I got up and made a little spiel explaining what they are and why I was handing them out. My husband took a lot of pictures of me (and my boys) and apparently, I just walk around looking odd and making crazy faces when I talk or interact with other people, because I look absurd in every photo he took (except for the one that I’m posing for).

My boys were so excited to hand them out and did a fabulous job! We only had one bundle left over after we handed them out. People were really interested in them and several asked to take some for their kids or grandkids that were “really into this kind of stuff”.

I had such an amazing feeling afterwards and I kept thinking….if each of these bags gets used one time and only one time, that’s 270 plastic produce bags that won’t be used, have to be recycled, or that won’t end up in the ocean or in a tree.

That’s enough to put a smile on my face. 🙂

I liked this “project” so much, I went home and applied for the next one.

We’re already approved for something I titled, “Straws for Sea Turtles”.

I found a great set of 16 reusable stainless steel straws on Amazon and I’m hoping to pass them out at a parade/festival on September 8th. If I print my own flyers and don’t buy any straw cleaners (still debating on that though….I feel those are necessary….) I can buy 400 reusable straws.

Spreading the love….one straw/3 produce bags at a time.