Local children are once again being invited to design limited-edition reusable shopper bags for East of England Co-op stores, with £10k from the profits to be donated to the retailer’s Community Cares Fund.
The East of England Co-op is, for the second year, inviting children aged between 4 and 11 across the East of England to showcase their creativity and community spirit by designing the bags.
Launching today (5 October), the competition asks children to imagine a hero whose special powers make their community a kinder, happier or better place. They can then create their design thinking about who their superhero helps (families, older neighbours, animals or the planet), what their superpower is (spreading joy, protecting nature, growing food or helping others feel brave and included) and also what they look like.
Last summer, six children won the competition, designing a bag celebrating the theme of kindness and caring for others.
Heartwarming ideas
Liz Cobbold, chief customer, community and member officer at East of England Co-op, said: “Our local young people came up with such imaginative, heartwarming designs last year, 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 so it’s a brilliant way for children to make a real difference where they live.”
The East of England Co-op supports unique local causes through its four community programmes. The Community Cares Fund has donated more than £1.2m to over 1,200 local causes since its launch in 2020.
Last year’s winners saw their bags launch in all East of England Co-op Food stores in April this year, and raised £10k for local communities - a target the retailer hopes to match again this year.
Store templates
From today, entrants can collect templates from their branch and take them home to design. Designs will need to be returned to the same store they were collected from by the competition deadline on 25 October.
Each store manager will then select a local winner who will receive a small prize. Each store’s winner 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 in 2027.
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