A group of students in Michigan, US, are helping the homeless and the environment this winter by using hundreds of plastic bags to make sleeping mats.
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The students use between 500 and 700 bags to crochet just one 6ft by 4ft insulated sleeping mat.
They plan to keep going until they’ve made a mile long line of around 880 mats.
They’re inviting pledges of $200 per mat to cover materials and are hoping to raise $176,000 altogether for the ‘Mile of Mats’ campaign, as well as other community projects.
“It means quite a bit to be able to give back to the communtiy, especially the homeless,” said student Michael Hayes, “No one realizes how many homeless people are here in Michigan.”
Local people have already joined in the green initiative and started crocheting their own plastic bag mats for the homeless.
Ashley Eby of the National Honor Service said, “The students want to infiltrate the community with our positive service-minded ideas.”
“We’ve got a lot of people involved and that’s what it’s about: getting our community involved and being able to serve and help together.”
You can find out more and get involved at the Three Rivers Community Schools website.