Avalon’s Boomerang Bags branch celebrates 10 years of sewing
BY ALEX DRISCOLL
Like many volunteer organisations, Avalon’s branch of Boomerang Bags is held together by the sense of community created by the participants.
“I would say that for some of the participants, ‘Tuesday camaraderie’ is the reason they get up in the morning. It gives them such a sense of purpose (for their Tuesday mornings),” volunteer Angie Barlow says.
Boomerang Bags is a volunteer organisation with one mission: to sew as many reusable bags as possible and give them out free to the community. You will find Boomerang bags out the front of local businesses across the Beaches. They are also handed out at local charities, like the Women’s Resilience Centre.
Boomerang Bags branches can be found worldwide in 500 locations and the grassroots movement was started as a way of reducing plastic bag rubbish.
“We’re a group of about 30 volunteers who come to the Avalon Recreation Centre every Tuesday during (school) term time and we sit and we sew,” Angie says. Some people will pop in for a single session and the group happily takes on people who are serving community correction orders.
Mainly there are a core of ladies who keep the machines going, and ‘sitting and sewing’ is just one aspect of their Tuesdays. Affectionately describing most of the predominantly female participants as ‘empty nesters,’ Angie says the group has helped one another through divorces, deaths, hardships and more. They are also happy to help the community with general clothes repairs, for free!
“Sometimes, we don’t even get that much sewing done!” Angie admits.
The bags can be found for free across the Northern Beaches
Despite the dedication of these women, the Avalon branch of the Boomerang Bags still faces challenges. Being a volunteer organisation, they are reliant on the goodwill of the community to keep functioning. From the machines they work with to the fabric used to make the bags, everything is either donated or comes directly out of the ladies’ pockets.
This is why events such as their upcoming 10th anniversary celebration are so important. Join them from 11.30am to 2.30pm on 15 July at Room 1 (downstairs) at the Avalon Recreation Centre to see what they get up to and celebrate with a delicious morning tea.
Angie would also love to see any member of the community with a free Tuesday afternoon to visit and see if sewing these bags is for them. Everyone is welcome!
Visit: boomerangbags.org
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