The bags get cut into four continuous loops, and the ladies get ready to make a combination of chain and single crochet stitches in long rows.
After 1,000 bags are cut, the crochet needles are used to insert, wrap and pull the plastic threads through. About 11 hours later, a 6-foot-by-3-foot mat is ready to be donated.
Over the past 18 months, the women have created 64 sleeping mats for the New Beginnings Homeless Shelter and the Gospel Mission in Dayton.
“We try to help people with furniture and household goods, but beds are very difficult to come by because of the bedbug population,” said Ken Clarkston, director/chaplain of the Gospel Mission on Burns Avenue. “So this is at least something to sleep on, and we’ll add a thick comforter. We’re very satisfied with them until we can get them a bed to sleep in.”
Janet Simmons of Washington Twp. is responsible for starting this charity that includes about 12-15 women.
“I saw some mats at Matthew 25 Ministries in Blue Ash and initially thought about learning how to make them for our yearly bazaar,” said Simmons, a member of Normandy United Methodist Church.
She contacted Lisa Tucker to learn how to crochet, and it was decided that they would recruit more women to make mats for homeless shelters. The reason they meet at Bill’s Donuts is because Lisa’s mother, Faye Elam, is the founder’s wife.
The Elams sold the business to Lisa and her brother Jim in 1995.
Students from Incarnation School donate plastic bags, and the women collect them as well, so the group is knee deep in bags for the time being.
“I don’t think we ever dreamed we’d get this many mats done. When we started this project, we didn’t know if everyone would stick with it and keep coming back,” said Tucker, a Washington Twp. resident and member of Far Hills Community Church.
Elam says she “doesn’t remember ever not knowing how to crochet.”
Tucker learned the skill from her grandmother when she was 5.
Member Ruth Powers joined about two months ago.
“I think it’s amazing. I just couldn’t get over the fact that a few women could make so many mats,” said Powers, who cuts plastic bags in her Kettering home in addition to crocheting with the group on Tuesdays. “When I found out about the group, I thought, ‘Well this is something that I can do.’ ”
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