If you are like me you have a bag filled with plastic bags from the grocery store or gas station. So you might use them for a garbage bag, to pack a lunch or pick up after the dogs on a walk. But how about if you could have those bags reused to help out people in our community that are homeless? That is where "The Superior Bag Ladies" come in to play.

The Superior Bag Ladies first got together this summer to work together to make sleeping mats for the homeless in our community by using discarded plastic bags. The leader of the group is Linda Lee Barton who made 35 of these mats by herself back in December. Barton was a longtime fan of crochet, but is not able to do it anymore due to losing some dexterity in her hands, so she was excited to learn this new skill.

According to the Superior Telegram: "The project involves cutting grocery-size plastic bags into circular strips about 2 inches wide, then fastening them together to form “plarn.” The plarn is woven together with a hefty 11.5-millimeter crochet hook, size P. It involves mostly wrist and arm action, and requires a hefty 500-700 bags per mat."

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That is a massive amount of bags to make just one mat! Barton put a post on Facebook and soon she had a team of ladies ready to get to work. When finished, each mat is roughly 68 inches long and 3 feet to 42 inches wide. Through trial and error they are making mats that are at least some comfort versus the cold ground.

The sleeping mats are being donated to the Ruth House and St. Vincent de Paul in Superior, They meet at the Village Hall, at 6702 Ogden Ave. in Superior, at 1 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month and everyone is invited to join. Donations of plastic bags (grocery store size or larger) are also needed. You can drop them off at the Village Hall from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Thank you so much ladies for all your hard work, you are helping so many people in the community!

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