ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY
with your project
There are a number of ways that you can promote your Boomerang Bags activities and engage with the wider community. Community involvement in your project could be anything from collecting and donating fabric, attending bag-making bees, making bags from home, running events or workshops, having conversations with their family and friends to spread the word, setting up a stall at a local market. The possibilities are endless!
Ideas to connect and engage with your local community
Spread the word!
- Social Media – start a facebook group and share with friends, family, community notice boards and other community groups
- Offer to join and speak at a local public event, market, festival or similar which already has a captive audience, to introduce the Boomerang Bags concept
- Contact your local media, newspaper, magazines, school newsletters and similar to share your story. Check out the Media Kit for tips!
Connect with community groups
Reach out to other community groups who may be able to use their existing networks and resources (volunteers, reach, venue, etc) to help your Boomerang Bags project get off the ground. Below are a few examples:
- Community Centre or Neighbourhood House
- Craft Groups/Country Womens’ Association
- Girl Guides and Scouts groups
- Kindergarten and/or childhood centre
- Landcare and Wildlife groups
- Libraries
- Lions and Rotary Clubs
- Marine debris/clean-up groups
- Mens Shed
- Surfrider Foundation
- Universities
Businesses
Many local shops, services, businesses and corporate organisations will love what your Boomerang Bags group is doing, and be interested in providing support. Don’t be shy to ask for things like:
- Donations of food for morning/afternoon tea for your volunteers,
- Support to promote your activities or collect donations of fabric
- Raffle prizes for fundraising events
- Window/wall space to place flyers and promotional materials
- See ‘How can your local store get involved?’ for other ideas
CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING DAYS
Sometimes businesses promote workplace volunteering and look for opportunities for their employees to contribute to the local community. Boomerang Bags is a great opportunity for involvement, and education if your group has the capacity and desire to facilitate a workshop for corporate volunteers. Don’t be shy to ask businesses to donate equipment you need, or make a donation for your efforts to facilitate this activity for their staff.
Schools and Kindergartens
- Connect with schools to advertise Boomerang Bags activities in their regular newsletters. This could be as simple as a call for volunteers or pre-loved fabric drive.
- Engage students in making their own bags using t-shirts, or for the younger years decorating light coloured fabric to be turned into bags. The Colour-in door hangers are also a great resource for kindergarten and early school years.
Take-home-n-sew Kits
- Provide ‘Take-home-&-sew’ kits, or as some communities call.. ‘Make me I’m yours’ kits, at local libraries, schools, businesses or other community venues. Essentially, a kit consists of a pre-cut bag (or a few) with handles, accompanying patch/labels, printed bag-making instructions and a little information about Boomerang Bags and how they can get in touch with you. People can take these kits to make their own bags at home, then use and distribute them as they wish. They could be made available somewhere centrally, distributed at markets and events, through libraries or other public venues.
Councils and politicians
- Councils love to support community groups, especially when they provide inclusive, no-cost activities that help to protect the environment and support the local community. You can ask them to promote your Boomerang Bags project to the wider community, to provide a venue (if needed), print flyers, implement mail-outs, sponsor your costs, or other in-kind support.
- Local Councillors and MP’s are often interested in Boomerang Bags and the contribution the project makes to their local community. Similarly, their offices may be a source of support to print flyers, promote Boomerang Bags and identify possibilities for support as you need it.
Events
- Host an event (a film night, for example) to introduce the plastic waste issue, and the Boomerang Bags concept to the community
- Set up a stall at your local market, car boot sale, school fete, festival or other events to display and promote your activities
PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
FLYERS AND MARKETING MATERIAL
Have you got your reusable bag? Door Hangers
Boomerang Bags Swing Tag
Boomerang Bags General Information A5 flyer
How to use Boomerang Bags A5 Flyer
Boomerang Bags Community Flyer
Colour-in Door Hanger
Boomerang Bags Sewing Bee/Volunteer Flyer (editable)
Flyer for businesses – Thanks for remember your reusable bag
