Bag Ladies Ministry
You may still be asking “What is Bag Ladies?” or “What are they doing with all those plastic bags?” GOOD QUESTIONS!!! Ladies of FCC have been making sleeping mats for the homeless for about 7 years now and it all started with a plastic grocery bag. We collect them. There is a tub in the basement for them and one in the entryway of the Family Center. Contrary to what some believe, we do not want all your plastic bags. WE ONLY WANT YOUR GROCERY STORE PLASTIC BAGS.
When you drop off the plastic bags you have collected, the process we go through to turn them into PLARN is a long and complicated one, taking a lot of hands giving a lot of time, to produce one sleeping mat. We love this project because we get to provide a much needed item for the homeless at absolutely no cost and it’s good for the environment. And we want you to be involved in the project with us! THIS IS OUR PROCESS:
- We pick up the bags you donate and take them to our workroom in the Family Center.
- We sort out the keepers (grocery bags of the same size only) and put the rest in Recycle.
- We pop each bag open to see if it is a good one. (we can’t use a bag with a hole, a tear, is sticky or has food left)
- We flatten the bag so it looks just like before it was used (carefully checking the pleat on each side of the bag for wrinkles.)
- The bags are stacked and weighted to push out air.
- The bag are cut crosswise into 2 1/4” strips.
- The strips are tied together and rolled into a ball like yarn (Plarn=plastic yarn).
- The balls of Plarn are crocheted into mats 6’ x 3’, folded and wrapped with a carrying strap. Each mat uses approximately 500-600 grocery bags.
- When our closet is full they are dedicated in a Sunday service; then we donate them to homeless shelters.
When you come to church put them in one of the tubs. Or you can visit bag ladies on the 1st or 3rd Tuesday morning for an hour and let us show you how to easily fold and store them so they are ready for our cutters when you bring them.
Sincerely
Bag Ladies
