Sue, Carolyn, and Christina

A Few Empty Milk Bags Can Change the World.

Sue Cardin, Carolyn Kinsman, and Christina Barbaro, teachers at Holy Spirit in Aurora, work with students to collect and reuse empty milk bags and turn them into sleeping mats for people in need in the developing world.

Our school is part of the Eco-schools program. We have a group of highly motivated students who are committed to being good stewards of the environment. We meet weekly at morning recess and although we only have a short time together our Green Team is determined to make every minute count.

When we’re working with the milk bags, it’s like an assembly line. Some students flatten and put the bags in stacks. Others fold and cut them, and some others knot them together to make long chains. Then we use a loom to weave them into mats. Our two looms were generously made by students at Cardinal Carter [a Catholic high school in the area] and a volunteer university student.

The final mats that we weave are not very big: you’d be shocked to think a family of five could sleep on the bigger ones that we have made, but they do in many of the countries these get sent to!

It’s great to see our students on the road to becoming responsible citizens who are making real contributions to the world.