This morning we had our first community screening of Straws for members of Oak Park Women's Guild at The Nineteenth Century Club. It was exciting! So many people were interested to learn about the #plasticpollution, about The Last Plastic Straw movement and what they can do to make a difference. Huge thanks to our guest speaker Gary Cuneen, founding director at Seven Generations Ahead and to Kelly Mitchell for organizing the event!

The funding has helped us to get our project up and running. We ordered Hay Straws for demonstration and printing of pledge forms, info cards and visual information about the problem of plastic straws. We leave this information after conversations with restaurant owners and managers. We also ordered design and printing of table signs "Skip The Plastic Straw" and sign holders for participating businesses to encourage people to skip the plastic straw and increase the awareness of the problem and our campaign.

Our impact so far:
- We convinced a few local businesses to stop giving plastic straws automatically and switch to green alternatives in the future!
- We increased awareness about plastic pollution problem and solutions among restaurant owners, managers and bartenders.
- We created a Facebook Page and an Instagram account to spread the word about our project and promote participating restaurants and other businesses that already switched to green alternatives to The Plastic Straw.

We're going to continue talking to local businesses in spring. In winter we are going to organize a community or school screenings of a documentary STRAWS. We found a few schools and organizations that are interested in that and we want to unlock our impact funding of $150 to buy educational or community licenses.

We had a few conversations with restaurant managers and owners this week. Not all of them were successful, but some of them will be continued 🤞. Stay tuned for more to come!

Please welcome newly joined Bongiorno's Cucina Italiana & Pizzeria to The Last Plastic Straw movement in Chicago!
They are a family run business and it was a pleasure talking to Deann Bongiorno. She showed our information and pictures about the problem of plastic straws to their waitresses and told them to stop giving straws automatically and only provide them upon customer’s request. We hope that this “straws-upon-request” policy and our sign will help to make a difference!
Stop in, relax and enjoy lunch or dinner with them. Seven days a week they're making hot, fresh pizzas for hungry people in Chicago.
#NoPlasticStraws #PlasticPollutes #NoPlasticStrawsChicago

Please welcome Caffe Cafe as a part of our #NoPlasticStraws campaign in Chicago!
The founder, Kenny Sadi, was happy to join our project as their customers were already asking about an eco-friendly alternative to plastic straws. He’s considering replacing plastic straws with paper or Hay Straws. Please stop by at 1 E Wacker Dr and support this initiative to make it happen sooner!
#PlasticPollutes #NoPlasticStrawsChicago

Today's Adopt-a-Beach Clean Up with Alliance for the Great Lakes was just a small step towards eliminating plastic pollution. 18 plastic straws were found among the seven pounds of plastic garbage picked up just by our group of three alone and within an hour and a half!
We strongly believe that each and every small step and effort matters!!!
Please join us in this effort by simply requesting “NO STRAW!” when you dine out! ! 🐳🐬🐟🐠🦈🐋

#AdoptABeach #NoPlasticStraws #PlasticPollutes #NoPlasticStrawsChicago

Yesterday we started working in the Chicago Loop and it was nice to know that 6 of 7 bars and cafes along the Chicago Riverwalk use paper straws rather than plastic ones or don't serve drinking straws at all. Way to go, Chicago!