East of England Co-op is inviting local children (aged 4-11) invited to design its limited-edition shopper bags.
The society, which will donate £10,000 of the profits from the bags to its Community Cares Fund, wants the young artists to create designs to show what it means to be a community superhero or what their community superhero would do to make the community a kinder, happier or better place.
“Our local young people came up with such imaginative, heartwarming designs last year,” said community and member officer Liz Cobbold, “and it was fantastic to see how much the bags meant to our members and customers.
“The bags were so popular that in some stores local to the winners they sold out within weeks. This year we’re asking children to imagine what a community superhero looks like, and I can’t wait to see the ideas that come in. Every bag sold helps us support local causes through our Community Cares Fund, so it’s a brilliant way for children to make a real difference where they live.”
The society supports more than 1,200 local causes through its four community programmes. The scheme supported through the competition, the Community Cares Fund, has donated more than £1.2m to local causes since it launched in 2020.
This is second year of the competition; last summer there were six winners, with children designing a bag celebrating the theme of kindness and caring for others.
Related: East of England Co-op launches reusable bags designed by local children
The bags, which launched in all East of England Co-op Food stores in April, have raised £10,000 for local communitie.
From today (5 October), children can collect design templates from their local East of England Co-op and take them home to design. All designs will need to be returned to the same store they were collected from by the competition deadline on Sunday 25 October.
Each store manager will select a local winner, who will receive a small prize. The store winners will then be judged by a central panel who will choose four overall winners whose designs will be featured on East of England Co-op shopper bags next year.
Main picture: Gracie Glen, one of last year’s competition winners, at Manningtree East of England Co-op (image: Anglia Picture Agency)
