Frontline Worker Bags
This idea came from one of my friends Kennedy Stephenson when we were searching for ideas this second 9 weeks. She had told us about a time when the pandemic started her Nana made tie blankets for frontline workers. This sparked interest because my stepdad is a frontline worker for the IFD. I knew that with Kennedy's dad and my stepdad both working for fire departments we could create a project that they could both use. Our initial idea was tie blankets for the departments, but then the thought of "how are they going to use them?" arose. We also found out just how pricy tie blankets are. So we scratched that idea. We then came up with the idea of making drawstring bags.
So our next step was how are we going to collect the items we want, who we were going to give them to, and what are the items we even wanted. We decided we were going to give the bags to both Kennedy and I's dads firehouses for them to hand out to people they see that need them. So next we came up with a list of items.
- draw string bags
- deodorant
- socks
- first aid kit
- chap stick
We knew that this isn't a lot, but trying to get 20 bags and then these 4 items to fill the bags, that it was going to be a lot of people to buy the items we needed. So we stuck with those items and made an amazon wishlist again. We put enough of every items to be able to complete 20 bags. 10 to give Kennedy's dad and 10 to give my stepdad. We set the wishlist to after someone purchased an item the item would disappear from the list. That way we would not have duplicates of items we don't need. The only thing we are waiting on is for the items to arrive to my house and then we will start packing them into bags and sending them off!!
04/30/21
The next update that we have is that I have brought in all the items. I unfortunately did not get all of the items purchased off of the list that we were hoping for. So luckily we have grant money for our class that we were fortunate enough to use. I added items to a separate WishList that I still needed to complete all 20 bags. I added a case of water, more socks, and deodorant. The items were just ordered and we are waiting for them to be shipped to the school in order for us to finish all 20 bags. But in the mean time I began packing the bags with what we already had. There was enough order to complete 12 of the 20 bags. I put one chapstick, a pair of socks, deodorant, and a first aid kit into the drawstring bags. After those were all filled I went back and looked at the receipts of who all purchased items from our list and began writing thank you letters to them. I did not want people's purchase to go unnoticed. After I completed those letters I started to write encouraging notes to the people that were going to be receiving the bags. Just something simple along the lines of "I hope this blesses you and positively impacts your life". I wanted to do this because I wanted people to feel seen and encouraged even though they might not be having the best experiences when they receive this package. In this project there is a huge opportunity to make an impact and I didn't want to miss or pass it up. So why we wait for the rest of the items to arrive I have just finished writing encouraging letters and making sure the plans are smoothed over for a stress free time when I give the bags to the fire departments.
- draw string bags
- deodorant
- socks
- first aid kit
- chap stick
We knew that this isn't a lot, but trying to get 20 bags and then these 4 items to fill the bags, that it was going to be a lot of people to buy the items we needed. So we stuck with those items and made an amazon wishlist again. We put enough of every items to be able to complete 20 bags. 10 to give Kennedy's dad and 10 to give my stepdad. We set the wishlist to after someone purchased an item the item would disappear from the list. That way we would not have duplicates of items we don't need. The only thing we are waiting on is for the items to arrive to my house and then we will start packing them into bags and sending them off!!
04/30/21
The next update that we have is that I have brought in all the items. I unfortunately did not get all of the items purchased off of the list that we were hoping for. So luckily we have grant money for our class that we were fortunate enough to use. I added items to a separate WishList that I still needed to complete all 20 bags. I added a case of water, more socks, and deodorant. The items were just ordered and we are waiting for them to be shipped to the school in order for us to finish all 20 bags. But in the mean time I began packing the bags with what we already had. There was enough order to complete 12 of the 20 bags. I put one chapstick, a pair of socks, deodorant, and a first aid kit into the drawstring bags. After those were all filled I went back and looked at the receipts of who all purchased items from our list and began writing thank you letters to them. I did not want people's purchase to go unnoticed. After I completed those letters I started to write encouraging notes to the people that were going to be receiving the bags. Just something simple along the lines of "I hope this blesses you and positively impacts your life". I wanted to do this because I wanted people to feel seen and encouraged even though they might not be having the best experiences when they receive this package. In this project there is a huge opportunity to make an impact and I didn't want to miss or pass it up. So why we wait for the rest of the items to arrive I have just finished writing encouraging letters and making sure the plans are smoothed over for a stress free time when I give the bags to the fire departments.