Plarn = plastic yarn
Back when Ms. Mary was an elementary school teacher, she worked with students on choosing a passion project. One of her students chose to make a sleeping mat made out of plastic grocery bags for those who were sleeping on the street.
Little did this student know that Ms. Mary also had a passion for supporting those without homes. She was - and still is - a regular volunteer with Christ in the City (CIC), a Catholic nonprofit in Denver, CO dedicated to forming missionaries, volunteers, and communities in knowing, loving, and serving the poor.
This student’s clever idea was inspired by what she saw on YouTube. There are loads of YouTube videos that explain how to make sleeping mats from plastic bags. Here’s one that shows the process pretty well…
Christ In The City And God’s Work. Our Hands.
Over the years, Ms. Mary has encouraged all of us at Saint Peter Lutheran Church (StPLC) to join her for CIC’s regular Saturday lunches as well as donating warm socks and travel-size toiletries. Most notably, though, you might remember Ms. Mary inviting all of us at StPLC to join her during the ELCA’s annual God’s work. Our hands. in the fall of 2022...to make plarn mats! She hadn’t forgotten that student’s passion project from years ago and it seemed like a good fit for StPLC then.
And so it was. StPLC collected loads of plastic grocery bags and weaved two mats that were delivered to Christ in the City. (The staff at CIC likes to distribute donated items to those who need them most.)
Shout out to the Guthals family who created a loom and made the weaving process much quicker! It takes 500-700 plastic bags to make one six-foot sleeping mat. Shown here.
An Ecumenical Event
You might think that the story ended here - or maybe put on hold until the next year’s God’s work. Our hands. event - but that’s not how Ms. Mary rolls. She saw that this plarn project showed promise. So she made it even bigger by including a group of friends made up of Family Ministries’ leaders at neighboring churches. This ecumenical group of leaders has representatives from seven churches in the Greenwood Village area to date, and the group continues to grow!
On Saturday, April 1, more than 100 people from the different churches came to StPLC for a plarn extravaganza. Actually, it was coined a service + social event, but those plastic bags were a big part of it.
Everyone had the chance to enjoy pizza, sing songs, and hear from Blake Brouilliette who works at Christ in the City and had some inspiring words about how Christians can love their homeless neighbors. (If you wanna know more about that this video is a must-watch.)
Then, the group dispersed to work on plarn sleeping mats, assemble blessing bags (those socks and shampoo bottles went to good use), decorate paper grocery bags for Project Angel Heart and get to know folks from this new and expanding community.
The Traveling Trophy
A layer of excitement was added to the evening by creating a competition among the church groups. You see, last year this same group of Family Ministry leaders invited their church’s youth to bowl together. One of the employees at the bowling alley was kind enough to give the group a bowling pin to serve as a trophy for the winning team. It now has the signature of all the church leaders and has become a traveling trophy of sorts.
First, St. Gabriel Episcopal Church hosted the trophy for having the highest score in bowling. Now, Hope Methodist Church has the traveling trophy for donating the most plastic bags. 21 pounds of plastic bags!
All the plastic bags donated were weighed according to a highly scientific approach (not really) to determine that in total all of the churches participating collected 80 pounds of plastic bags!!!!! That’s quite a few sleeping mats.
There’s More Plarn Weaving To Do
Because the process of weaving plarn is time-consuming, there’s still some weaving left to do. A loom with a mat-in-progress will live in the Narthex at StPLC this spring. If you find yourself with a few minutes, you are welcome to stop by and complete a few rows. Plus, Ms. Mary has ideas for future community events where we can continue to weave together in community. Stay tuned!
