EcoLife: The next generation of sustainable fundraising

By Jaryd Brady

Growing up, children participating in fundraisers for school might have included going door-to-door selling candy, but one local business owner is teaming up with schools in southwest Florida to promote sustainability with a modern twist to the classic chocolate bar sales through a new initiative called “ecoLife.”

Christopher Fous, creative director for WooBamboo, an eco-friendly oral care company in Cape Coral, Florida, founded the program in 2018 with his wife, Danielle Fous, who teaches Pre-K at Crestwell Academy in Fort Myers. ecoLife targets elementary schools in Lee County and teaches kids about sustainability through the use of social media, sustainable products and education. By switching out traditional candy bars for sustainable products such as eco-friendly tooth brushes, makeup kits, shampoo, conditioner and other soaps all made without harmful chemicals that can traditionally be found within those products.

Through the use of a simple link via social media, children will be able to sell their eco-friendly products to a larger group of people while advocating for a greener future. The packaging that the products also come in is 100 percent recyclable.

“During earth month I would always gear my lesson plans toward teaching the kids and then I realized that the kids are teaching their parents,” Danielle said. “I wanted change, but I only had a small classroom. Now we’re on a bigger scale and hitting more families.”

Each student who participates in ecoLife gets a specific URL that people can find and visit via social media to shop. 35 percent of all the products sold go toward the school and when the fundraiser has stopped, people can also have the opportunity to donate to any charity that they want that’s geared toward helping the environment as well as children. 15 percent of sales go toward ecoLife, with the remaining 50 percent going toward the cost of the products.

Businesses involved in ecolife include: WooBamboo, Dr. Bronners, Klee Naturals, Statement Peace, Phresh Deodorant, Walker Farms Honey, Lotus Trolly Bags and Just Bee Free Natural Soap. 

“I’ve never in my life bought a gigantic tub of cookie dough, but I did because my neighbor’s kid was selling it,” Christopher said. “I’m already buying soap, I’m already buying shampoo, so what’s stopping me from buying something that I already use that’s also good for the environment.”

Despite being a new program, ecoLife has already received positive feedback and invitations into elementary schools around the area such as Crestwell Elementary School, Heights Elementary School and Tanglewood Elementary School.

“My family and I think it’s a really good thing that they’re doing,” Diane Marsh, a parent whose son attends Tanglewood Elementary School, said. “It’s definitely easier on us with the use of social media, but it’s also a good life lesson for the kids.”

The schools who have been approached with the ecoLife initiative used to hold candy drives or bake sales to help fundraise for the school, but have since abandoned those practices to make way for ecoLife. 

“These aren’t mercy buys, these are really cool products that can get into the household and inspire them to be more eco-friendly,” Christopher said. “We want to shift that paradigm in the right direction.”

EcoLife hosts its pre-launch this March and will be fully operational this April.

“We’re going to work out the kinks to make sure we don’t mess up too bad,” Christopher said. “We hope to be in dozens of schools come the start of the next school year.”

Christopher said that schools in other states have already expressed interest. The couple plans to expand ecoLife nationally in the future.

“We’re not just generating money for the school, we’re generating ways to teach kids on how the world works,” Christopher said. “The people that are crazy enough to try and change the world are always the ones that do.”