Project Examples
Mariposa Community Youth, California
Decorated donated canvas bags
Group Leader Christine Radanovich
 This group of about 14 young people decorated 80 donated canvas bags using regular crayons. To make the color permanent, Christine covered the finished designs with parchment paper and pressed with a hot iron. One stand-out bag featured a to-scale drawing of the Half Dome in nearby Yosemite National Park. The decorated bags are being sold in the local health food store and a drug store owned by the father of one of the members. Two group members wrote articles about recycling and the importance of reducing our use of plastic bags, which were published in the local newspaper.
Osceola Roots & Shoots, Florida
Sewed one-of–a-kind bags from scraps
Group Leader Amanda Koepke
 Our group wanted to do a fund-raising project for the R&S Tanzania Wheelchair Project. We are also concerned with promoting recycling efforts in our local community and the use of fabric bags in particular as a way of reducing the wasteful use of plastic shopping bags. So we designed a pattern for tote bags, large enough to carry groceries in, but attractive enough to carry to the mall, too. The bags are sewn by the kids with the assistance of a few of the parents in the group, out of pieced together bits of donated clothing and used household fabrics. Each of the kids in the group advertised for and collected the donations of fabrics- asking for heavier ones like jeans, men's button–ups and old curtains. We have sewing days at the leader's house with everyone bringing their machines from home. With an average of six kids sewing and cutting, we can finish about 15-20 bags in 5-6 hours. | 
