Texan uses plastic bags to crochet sleep mats for homeless
LONGVIEW, Texas— A Longview woman, motivated after the death of a 72-year-old man, is crocheting sleep mats for the homeless out of plastic bags.
The Longview News-Journal reports Pamela Benson, a longtime resident of Longview who originally is from England, is partnering with Made to Love Ministries to make sleeping mats for people living on the streets.
“I sat in my warm house with food in the cupboards and a beautiful place to live, a warm bed to sleep in, with people all around me,” Benson said. “And I’m messing around with the bags, and it makes me cry, when I think this plastic bag could bring some comfort to somebody—and save a life.”
Benson was motivated to make the mats when she heard about a man who had died from exposure to the cold in January in Longview. It was initially believed the man was homeless, but officials later said they believed he lived in Hallsville.
It took Benson about four weeks to make the first mat, but she said the second only took her two weeks, because she now has a rhythm going.
“It’s given me a sense of purpose and a vision,” Benson said. “And I want to help people as much as I can. With Made to Love Ministries, I know it can get into the right hands.”
More than 30 people of all ages recently joined Benson at Green Street Recreation Center to help create the mats. Stations were set up for cutting, folding and rolling the plastic bags—and crocheting them.
“I just think it’s a worthy cause and a great way to recycle,” said Connie Bechtold, who attended the event.
Benson has reached out to churches and residents of Longview to encourage others to make the mats. She said she has gotten six churches involved in the past two weeks and hopes to contact more as the project continues.
“I have one church in Kilgore that’s got all their Sunday school children committed to cutting and folding, and they want to do enough for five mats,” she said. “So, I’m desperately in need of crocheters now; that’s the next thing.”
Andrea Dollahite, founder of Made to Love Ministries, said Benson has been an inspiration to her.
“So many of (the homeless people) sleep on the ground and a lot of them don’t have sleeping bags or any cushion because they’re on the concrete; they’re in the campsites,” Dollahite said. “So, when she had the idea of making these, I thought it would be something softer for them to lay on.”
Dollahite founded Made to Love Ministries in 2015 as a way to provide food, care, shelter and love to people in need in Longview. The ministry relies on donations and volunteer work to reach out to the homeless and “give love to the unlovable,” Dollahite said.
“We love people where they’re at, just love them where they’re at and rely on God to do the rest,” she said. “So far, we’ve been able to get 13 people off the streets of Longview.”
Benson said she hopes they can create and distribute as many sleep mats as possible. The mats are wide enough to be used as blankets and are durable, Benson said.
“It’s just such a thrill to know we can do something with a plastic bag,” she said. “It’s brought people together that don’t know each other, that have never met each other.”