Since last July, a team of volunteers from three area churches -- Light of Christ Lutheran Church, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and St. John’s Windish Lutheran Church -- have been hard at work turning single-use plastic bags into multi-use mats for the homeless. The bags are turned into plarn (plastic + yarn) and crotcheted into 30-inch by 72-inch mats one-half inch thick and serve as a barrier against the cold and damp of the ground.

As of the end of December, 28 of the mats have been made and blessed by Pastor Gerry Kulp at Light of Christ Church. Each mat can be rolled up and comes with a carrying strap and two tie straps. Volunteer Michel Lloyd says they’ve been made elsewhere and distributed to the homeless. Lloyd explains that the God’s Work, Our Hands committee involved with the initiative will be visiting homeless encampments and contacting area shelters to get the mats in the hands of those who need them most.

Mary Mann says it takes 500 to 700 bags to make a mat. The plarn is made and rolled much like a ball of yarn, with eight to 10 balls of plarn needed for each mat. She says “a multitude of people have been bringing bags and making the plarn.” During COVID, they’ve worked individually at their homes or in small groups.

Mann says that their goal is to make 50 of the mats and it takes roughly a week to crotchet each one. “We’ve had a wonderful time together,” she adds.