Recyclable, Reusable Food Bags
For Helen, a Juliette Girl Scout from Bethel, the Bronze Award posed a perfect opportunity to address the issue of food insecurity in her area and come up with a sustainable solution. After careful consideration, Helen began noticing that many of those who visited her local food bank, were on foot, and thus forced to transport supplies by-hand. That meant they were fitting only what food they could in their arms, or environmentally unfriendly and unreliable plastic bags.
That’s where Helen got creative. She came up with the idea to create free, reusable bags for clients to assist them with the process of gathering and bringing food home.
Luckily for Helen, her mother and former troop leader was able to lend a teaching hand when it came to production. She taught Helen how to sew a French seam and put together a sturdy finished product. By the end of her production period, Helen custom made 13 vibrant bags.
According to her mother, Ellen DeMaio, Helen not only gained skills in terms of sewing—she also learned about food pantry guidelines and some crucial aspects of project management through both individual research and connecting with food pantry representatives.
“She learned that she couldn’t just bake goods to give to the food bank. She also learned how to conduct an interview, and how to work with an organization,” says Ellen.
As part of her Bronze Award project, and sticking to the repurposed community impact theme, Helen also made bookmarks from recycled paper and donated them to the Bethel library.
