Children’s artwork on grocery bags help spread Earth Day message

Shoppers at Piggly Wiggly this week are going home with groceries and one-of-a-kind artwork on their shopping bags.

As part of the City of Troy’s “Go Green Week,” students from Troy Elementary School, Covenant Christian School, New Life Christian Academy and Pike Liberal Arts School decorated brown paper grocery bags with Earth Week messages and pictures.

“We had some of the cutest bags,” said Ashley Smallwood, special projects coordinator with the city. “They are precious and this was a perfect way to revamp our ‘Go Green’ activities.”

Smallwood said she came up with the idea to decorate the bags because groceries are a necessity and the bags would provide good community outreach.

Johnny Garrett, owner of the Piggly Wiggly on North Three Notch Street, said his store doesn’t use paper bags any longer due to increasing costs, but he was happy to special order 200 of the brown sacks for this project.

“I have two grandchildren and we try to support anything that helps kids in our area,” Garrett said. “I’m interested to see all the designs.”

Amy Campbell’s second-grade class at Pike Liberal Arts has been studying about recycling and Earth facts. She said she’s been impressed with how interested her students are and how creative they were when it came to decorating their bags.

“They thought of things I wouldn’t have even come up with,” Campbell said. “I’m proud of their efforts. Everybody did a great job.”

Campbell’s class produced 11 decorated bags for the project.

Abbi-Kay Terry, 8, is in Campbell’s class and her bag had a recycling bin, the recycling symbol and a sun, “for extra color,” she said with a smile.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Terry said. “I think it is important to recycle so we can keep our Earth clean and animals won’t get hurt by eating or being caught in trash.”

The City of Troy also has other “Go Green Week” activities planned for area kids. Smallwood said there are coloring contests, invention contests, recycling art projects, poster contests and recycling competitions.

“We really just want to make talking about recycling and conservation new and fun,” Smallwood said. “And the kids are loving it.”