AARP Launches 'Sew Children Can Learn' Project in Lubbock

AARP and other community volunteers recently held their first “Sew Day” in Lubbock as part of an ongoing project to turn T-shirts into school supply bags for the South Plains Food Bank. The food bank holds an annual drive for local children whose families can’t afford basic school supplies. Since 1991, the food bank has helped over 30,000 children, grades kindergarten through senior high school, get ready for their first day of school.

In the past, transporting the supplies has always proved challenging as plastic bags tend to tear. This year, however, the donation of 5,000 T-shirts has provided an inventive alternative – T-shirt bags! This summer, AARP volunteers are rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to help sew the T-shirts into bags. On June 15, volunteers brought their sewing machines to the Municipal Garden and Arts Center to learn how to turn the article of clothing into a viable means of transporting school supplies.

The “Sew Children Can Learn” project is just getting started. AARP hopes to recruit enough community volunteers to stitch 4,000 bags by the middle of August. We need your help to make that goal a reality. Are you handy with a sewing machine? Call or email Carmel Snyder at (214) 265-4073 or csnyder@aarp.org to get involved. The bags are simple to make and every stitch counts!

Are you domestically challenged but would like to help in other ways? Visit online to learn more about the South Plains Food Bank school supply drive and how you can help.