First Mat Made For The Homeless

Meanwhile in norwalk iowa the mighty mat makers meet once a week at st.

First mat made for the homeless. First the group collected as many bags as possible. Betsy greer wrote a beautiful series of pieces not too long ago about crafting privilege and using our hands to give back and it feels like kismet that my friend jeff wrote about plarn sleeping mats to help the homeless just a few weeks later. That is a total of 3000 3600 strips or 600 700 bags per mat. John the apostle catholic church to create their own mats using about 700 plastic bags apiece.

I typically put together 600 strips to form 1 ball. Many shelters like to have a few mats in their inventory particularly with cold weather approaching in the north. Link the strips to form plarn and roll into balls. In the beginning the mats were taken to cornerstone ministry in the uptown area of chicago.

It takes about 80 hours to make one mat said caren umans who helped found the group which meets from 10 11 30 a m. Be a plarn plastic yarn maker. Since 2013 jack bryers a parishioner at st. Often homeless shelters in the area are filled to capacity in winter leaving people no option but to sleep on the floor.

Each bag yields about five strips of plastic. Zachary in des plaines has been picking up the mats and distributing them to the homeless in our area. I don t keep. From plarn sleeping mats to homemade clothing and blankets there are so many ways that crafters can help the homeless.

So far they have spent at least 100 hours on the project producing 18 mats that have been handed out to the homeless and there are many more to come. The first and third tuesdays each month at st. Depending upon the needs of the organization where you are donating the mats an optional carrying strap can be included. The process is long and tedious.

Over 170 mats were delivered to chicago. The mat making technique requires cutting around a plastic bag to create a series of circle shaped. It takes about 700 bags and four hours to make one mat for an adult person klemmer said. Then it takes between 5 and 6 balls to complete a mat.

The murfreesboro mat makers transform hundreds maybe even thousands of the bags into sleeping pads for the homeless. At the group s first meeting in january the six. Check with the organization first to determine their needs for the population they serve. Crochet the mat into a 3 foot by 6 foot mat.

We have now completed over 270 mats. It takes more than 1 000 plastic bags to make one mat. Romandia had to learn to crochet herself.