I remember when Keira was a baby in a pram and being asked at the checkout if I was interested in receiving shopping vouchers or tickets for particular community initiatives. I remember looking down at her and thinking, “I daresay I will soon enough.” Flash forward to now, when I was contacted and asked if I was interested in partnering with Coles to help promote the Sports for Schools initiative. I said yes immediately. Keira has already been avidly collecting and taking them to school. It was also a chance to learn more about it – but more about that later.
First, let’s talk about grocery shopping.
I hate it.
Adam, on the other hand, cannot resist ‘popping in’ at any given chance. I am a staunch list-stickler; he is a more ‘be free and relaxed and have fun with it!’ kind of guy. Our conflicting ways of thinking came to a head the other day as we sat at the table with a Coles Giftcard between us.
“I think we should just stick with our usual list and make it a double shop,” I said.
“Bah! Where’s the fun in that? Let’s use it to get some top-shelf stuff, some luxuries,” he replied.
“Dude – this isn’t an episode of Supermarket Sweep. Don’t be silly.”
The argument continued.
We eventually struck a middle ground and off we went, kids in tow.
It quickly became apparent that all planning was going to go out the window.
This shop turned into A Big One – so much so that by the end my inner miser was reeling, especially when the cashier took forever counting out our vouchers. As he tore them off he said, “Congratulations that officially broke the record of number of vouchers I’ve given out after a single transaction.”
The children cheered and I smiled as I stuffed the vouches into the top of a green recycling bag.
As we walked out, a woman coming out of an adjacent checkout waved me down. “I can’t help but see you’re collecting those,” she said, pointing to all the paper. “Here, have mine. I don’t have kids, but I still collect them and pass them along to families that do.”
She handed them over and I gratefully thanked her. It’s a reason why I like projects like this: it encourages people to think about the community they live in and give a little back.
This year, the Coles Sports for Schools initiative is seeking to capitalise on the remarkable success from last year: over $7 million dollars worth of equipment was handed out to over 7500 schools in 2010 making it the largest provider of sporting goods to schools in the country (including state and federal governments).
Here is a sample of what equipment there is on offer:
If you would like to get your school involved, there’s still time: the initiative continues until 18th October.
For further information, here are some useful links:
Click here to register your school or check to see if it is already registered.
To motivate yourselves, check out the catalogue of sporting equipment on offer and then make a wishlist you can monitor and track your progress on. Don’t forget there’s a resources page to help you spread the word among the school community.
If you shop via Coles online, don’t worry you can also participate: scroll down the FAQ page until you reach ‘If I shop via Coles Online will I receive Sports for Schools vouchers?’ and it will tell you more.
Tell me: Is your school a part of the Sports for Schools initiative? Do you live in a metropolitan or regional area? Does this affect how well a school performs or do you also rely on community participation as well? I’m curious to know!
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. Coles provided me with Sports equipment, a Coles Gift Voucher, and payment for this post. All opinions and ideas expressed in this post are my own.
A portion of the grocery shop was donated to our local Foodshare group.
