Some cities in the U.S. have banned the use of plastic shopping bags in their stores as a way to help the environment.
Liz Houck Kampa of Big Lake has found a different way of dealing with the issue - and it’s also helping the homeless.
She started a group that weaves plastic bags into mats for homeless individuals to keep them warm in the cold weather.
Last year, Houck-Kampa, a student, was reading an essay paper about how plastic bags are damaging the environment.
“I was upset but I didn’t know what I could possibly do about it,” she says. “I was scrolling through Facebook a few weeks later and found a group of women in Tennessee who were making these.”
She tried to locate someone who was doing the same thing locally.
“I couldn’t, so I figured I’d try to put it together myself,” she says.
She posted her idea on Facebook and received instant response. One of those responding was Jenna Slama from Rice, who now hosts meetings in the St. Cloud Public Library where people come in, share supplies and work on the mats.
Houck-Kampa does the same at the Elk River Library, where the goup meets once a month. Part of her group are from the Elk River Women of Today.
There are also monthly meetings in Albertville and Maple Grove.
The group, Weaving Love MN, started in December and now has many people involved, some who never attend meetings but are gathering supplies and making mats.
Houck-Kampa says it’s a time-consuming process to make one mat. First, the plastic bags are flattened and cut into strips. Each bag can make five strips. Those strips are tied into one long strip called plarn (plastic yarn) before it’s crocheted into a mat.
“One 3’x6’ mat takes between 500 and 700 bags,” she says. “Just making plarn can take 10 to 15 hours.”
Once the mats are done, they’re donated to the homelesss. Houck-Kampa has contacts in St. Cloud (Project Connect) and St. Paul, where an individual there distributes CARE packages to the homeless. The group just donated 24 mats to Project Connect last week.
The mats are lightweight and waterproof and provide a layer of insulation for someone who might previously have been sleeping on a cold concrete sidewalk.
“I’ve even heard of people who have sleeping bags and put it over the sleeping bag to hold in body heat,” says Houck-Kampa.
The volunteers in the group keep in touch on Facebook, where there will be a posting when they decide to distribute mats.
“When we’re planning a trip to St. Cloud or St. Paul, we’ll gather some mats together,” says Houck-Kampa.
She’ll also assist with anyone interested in forming their own meeting group.
For more information, including a video on the plarn-making process, check their Facebook page: Weaving Love MN.
