East of England Co-op launches children’s design competition to celebrate community kindness

The East of England Co-op is inviting children aged 4-11 across East Anglia to showcase their creativity and community spirit by designing a limited-edition shopper bag to raise funds for local causes. 

The competition, launching today (1 July) in East of England Co-op stores across East Anglia, asks young artists to create designs celebrating the theme of “kindness and caring for others”. 

Andy Rigby, CEO at East of England Co-op said: “Every day, we witness the difference that acts of kindness and caring can make in our communities. Our young people particularly embody this spirit of hope and positivity. This competition gives them the opportunity to share their vision of community kindness while helping us raise vital funds for local causes.” 

The local retailer supports more than 800 unique local causes through its four community programmes. The profits from this competition will go to the East of England Co-op's Community Cares Fund which has directly supported more than 145,000 throughout the East of England since it launched in 2020.  

The competition is running alongside the retailer’s summer Local Giving campaign. Each summer and winter, colleagues in East of England Co-op stores choose the organisation they want to support and spend three months fundraising for them.  

From Tuesday 1 July, children can collect design templates from their local East of England Co-op and take them home to design. All designs will need to be returned to the same store they were collected from by the competition deadline on Thursday 17 July.  

Each store team will select a local winner, who will receive a small prize. The store winners will then be judged by a central panel who will choose four regional winners whose designs will be featured on East of England Co-op shopper bags at the beginning of next year. Every time someone shops with their local East of England Co-op using one of these bags, they’ll be reminded of the hope and kindness that exists in their community.