In 2019, Joanne Morneau was vacationing in the Caribbean, snorkelling in a remote beach when she noticed it — all the plastic and garbage on the shores of the beautiful beach.
Shocked and upset by the sight, it was at this point that Morneau knew she wanted to help do something about it.
Upon returning home, Morneau got to work: building a community of volunteer sewers, now called Fabric Bag Solution, to make reusable fabric bags — tackling two issues at hand: plastic pollution and textile pollution.
“I (thought) I’m using reusable bags, but there’s probably a lot of people out there who still haven’t converted to fabric bags, and it’s really something easy to make ... so why don’t we make some bags?” she said.
From a small group of two to a group of 50 from all over the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, the volunteer group has grown a lot since their inception in June 2019.
The group has sewn and donated more than 12,000 bags to food banks, women’s shelters and hospital auxiliary gift shops across the province.
Now the volunteers, led by Morneau, will be at the Burnaby farmers market this Saturday, July 29 to raise awareness about the cause and fundraise for the group to buy new threads, sewing machines and equipment.
“Many of (our volunteers) have more than one sewing machine, and it costs at least $150 to service the machine. We’re already giving so much time to this project, so we (want to) make some money to support our own group,” Morneau said.
For her and the group of volunteers, many of whom are seniors, it is all about the cause — to have fewer plastics in the world and have an impact in the world.
“It’s so easy to ignore (the bigger picture) and just focus on 'me' in the world. So we want to remind people that you gotta look bigger and broader and help others,” she said.
“We’re in this together; we share the earth, we share the land where food comes from, we share the water we drink, we share the air we breathe, and we can’t function on 'It's just me and I don’t care about anybody else' mentality. It just it’s not sustainable.”
Early beginnings: How Fabric Bag Solution began
Fabric Bag Solution started with Morneau reaching out to her friend with an idea for change.
The neighbour started Morneau off on her path with a little money for thread. Another friend stepped up with fabric, and so on.
The COVID-19 pandemic got more people involved, and the group started working innovatively as time went on — making masks, bottle holders, laundry bags and more. As a volunteer group, they have set up distribution hubs throughout the Lower Mainland (including Burnaby, Vancouver), Fraser Valley (Abbotsford, Langley) and Vancouver Island (Nanaimo) for volunteers to collect the essentials and drop the fabric bags for donation.
“I tried to keep it more within B.C. — more Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley,” Morneau said. “That’s where most of our people are. We have a few on the island. It’s a small group, but it’s a group that can be anywhere in the country.”
“We are so passionate about it; we all do it (sewing bags) because we want to. We can’t stand sitting back and seeing very little happening in our world.”
She said people don’t have to necessarily join her group — "anybody can start a group and do something similar.”
For Morneau, it’s about the action, and creating change.
Folks interested in donating money, machines or threads, and/or volunteering their time are encouraged to contact Morneau at [email protected] for more information.
If you're in the Burnaby area, you can check out the group and their bags at the Burnaby farmers market on Saturday, July 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot at Burnaby City Hall.
