Superstars: Save The Sunflowers

Include this article in your Skills Builder Journal. It could help you develop...  

When Sky and their team got together to design a social action project, they were struck by the miscommunication and questioning around COVID-19 regulations and what wearing a sunflower lanyard meant.

“The Sunflower Lanyard has been associated with mask exemption, which is not what it stands for at all. It is a symbol for people with non-visible disabilities, so that they can access help in public if needed or wanted.” Sky explained.

After a bit of research, the team also found that not only were people questioning what the lanyard meant, but that some wearers had been verbally abused and harassed for not wearing a mask, even when the lanyard was in full view. 

“So,” Sky continued, “our campaign's purpose was to spread awareness of the original meaning to prevent this.”

So what did they do? Well, a lot!

The team quickly got organised into different roles, each with a special task to do. The logistics group sent emails to local organisations and the council to see where they could volunteer or campaign. The council gave permission for the group to campaign in the town centre, and they were able to go to their local community garden “to help maintain a nice safe garden space for the elderly and vulnerable people.”

The finance group set up donation pages online, and sorted out sponsors that they could collect donations for in person. 

The media team set up an Instagram account and were there to gain a following, interact with them, post photos and information, and update the followers on the campaign’s progress and what the team as a whole were up to every day. 

And then there were the managers. Sky and one other team mate took these roles and made sure to overlook what everyone else was doing, and give a helping hand where needed across the groups. 

“I also set up a Linktree,'' said Sky, “so that all our important information like our Instagram page and guidance on particular subjects would be there for anyone who needed it. A member of our logistics team then made a QR code for the Linktree, which we used when campaigning so that people could access everything they needed to interact with our campaign.”

Then it was time to go out into the community and get campaigning. 

“Wednesday was our prep day, where we went out into the town and brought craft supplies and some t-shirts. We then split into groups to get different tasks done. One team was responsible for making cute envelopes with drawings of sunflowers on, business cards with the name of our campaign on, a brief message about our campaign and our Instagram handle so that people could follow and support us, and some sunflower seeds.” explained Sky.

The team made 88 business cards and gave all of them away during the day! They also made posters with information on, and banners to attract attention so that the public would come and talk to the group about their project. 

And the day was a success! Despite some classic British rain showers, the team carried on and had a lot of good conversations with people about what the lanyards mean and why it’s important to understand their real meaning. 

“Many people approached us and learnt about the sunflower lanyard, and sunflower lanyard wearers shared their experiences with us and told us they were really happy with what we were doing with our campaign. I really appreciated how everyone took the time to listen to us and support us” Sky said. 

With a new COVID-19 variant making the rounds, and masks being made compulsory again, it’s important to understand that not everyone can, or needs, to wear them - and that there are lots of reasons why...remember that if you see a sunflower, it means that person has a non-visible disability. To find out more about non-visible disabilities, why not check out our latest Spotlight On blog!

WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHERE YOU ARE?

Want to carry out some social action in your community but aren’t sure where to start? Take a look at a Changemaker group near you...

And if you’ve already taken part in a social action project that you’re proud of, let us know! Tell us all about it here.