Olney Culture Lab worked with Lowell Elementary School in 2022-2023 to design reusable grocery bags that can be given out to residents who frequent local food pantries and grocery stores.

In partnership with the Visual Arts Teacher Bridget Donnelly, students from K – 3 drew illustrations of a variety of fruits, vegetables and other foods. A selection of drawings from the 2nd grade students of Ms. Martin and the 3rd grade students of Ms. Kimbel and Ms. Shackelton were included as source images for the bag design. The final design was assembled by Ambrose Liu.

Once they produced, these bags will be given out at the local food pantry across the street from the school run by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. We also hope to enlist the local grocery store – Collins ShopRite – as a sponsor to support this project.

By involving the school, we are helping increase the awareness of the food pantry in the neighborhood and also supporting the residents in their transition from using plastic bags to something more sustainable. As of April 1, 2022, businesses have been banned from using single use plastic bags by the city of Philadelphia .

Hopefully, this multi-win effort will instill a sense of pride in students seeing their artwork on this package, promote the sustainable environmental practice of reusing bags and address food insecurity in the community.

Main support for this project is provided by William Penn Foundation.