Caring Bags Project

Are you looking for a way to encourage compassion in your students?  Why not try Caring Bags?

A colleague and I wanted to come up with a service project idea for our schools to help the homeless and/or less fortunate in the community. We wanted to make a big impact, but two things were very important to us. First, keeping the cost to parents low was a must. Second, to make the idea more appealing to teachers who were already overwhelmed, we did not want to add a lot of extra work to their already tough workload.

We came up with the idea of Caring Bags.  The idea is to collect essential items to be placed in gallon size freezer bags and handed out to those in need.  Items included in our proposal were:  nail clippers, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, mouthwash, lip balm, comb, soap, wash cloth, lotion, deodorant, band aids, socks, bottled water, and a granola bar. I was able to find each of the items for less than a dollar at our local discount department store. We asked each school to collect one of those items from the staff and one from the students per month on a rotating basis.

You can change the items based on the needs in your community.  Some organizations that may be in need of bags like these include homeless shelters, emergency shelters, shelters for victims of domestic abuse, and churches that provide assistance to the less fortunate.  You may want to include a note in your bags letting the recipients know that your school or district cares about them.

As the organizers of this project, my colleague and I put some work into it up front to alleviate some of the work for the participating teachers. (*If you would like more information about how we implemented this project in our schools, please email us.)  In addition to donating an item if they were able to, teachers only had to send home the letters each month...we created the letters. The representatives from each school placed containers in the school lobbies so teachers would not have to collect items in classrooms.

For the most part, items are non-perishable, so you could collect for several months before putting the bags together if you need more time. With Caring Bags, you also do not need 100% participation to make a big impact. Twenty-five bags means twenty-five people have some essential items that they may not otherwise have. Be sure to set goals that are attainable, and remember that every little bit helps.

We'd love to hear what your classroom or school does to encourage compassion!