An educational use for discontinued fabric
Posted: 12.16.09
By Kimball Office Social Media Team

Why recycle something when you can re-use it, right? When Kimball Office employee Kevin Mehringer (from our Jasper, Indiana office) heard about a quantity of discontinued fabric being sent away for recycling, an idea occurred to him. He contacted local seamstress and volunteer worker, Shirley Rogers, to see if she could use the fabric. A short phone call later, Shirley took all of it!

Seems Shirley had an idea that would brighten some local elementary school classrooms, improve their organization, and boost the children’s productivity! She used the fabric to make 80 chair pockets for the backs of the students’ chairs. With some creative measuring and strategic sewing, now the kids have a neat, out-of-the-way place to store notebooks, pencils, glue, erasers, and anything else that might clutter their desks.

The kids liked their chair pockets so much that they sent Kevin a “Thank You” card signed by the whole class. The teachers love the improved organization of the classroom and the kids learned a valuable lesson in recycling and sustainability. Gotta start ‘em young, right? Special thanks to Shirley Rogers for her donation of time and creativity to this project. We hear she is also working on tote bags, pencil bags, floor runners, and even costumes made out of discontinued fabrics!  Way to go!