Macomb County parishes turn shopping bags into sleeping mats for those in need during archdiocese-wide day of service
STERLING HEIGHTS — More than 50 people gathered in the bustling social hall of St. Michael Parish in Sterling Heights on Oct. 19 to weave together plastic threads into sleeping mats for people experiencing homelessness.
Parishioners of all ages, along with volunteers from nearby St. Ephrem Parish in Sterling Heights, St. Blase Parish in Sterling Heights and St. Martin de Porres Parish in Warren — together comprising the Saints Among the Saints Family of Parishes — were making “mercy mats” as part of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s eighth-annual Mercy in Action Day of Service, when parishioners throughout southeast Michigan fan out to perform corporal works of mercy.
At St. Michael, one of dozens of parishes participating in this year's service day, volunteers learned how to take regular plastic shopping bags and cut them into strips of yarn or “plarn” (plastic yarn), which were then loomed and crocheted into sleeping mats that will be distributed to homeless ministries in the area.
“We have participated in Mercy in Action every year since the event began,” Michelle Hayes, Christian service coordinator for the Saints Among the Saints Family of Parishes, told Detroit Catholic. “We have many things going on at the parish. In the church, we have several volunteers making plastic mats for those experiencing homelessness. We have a group that is cleaning up the parish grounds, and we also have some volunteers out at private residences and senior homes to do some fall cleanup; others are sorting through donated hearing aids and glasses”
The idea to make sleeping mats came from St. Michael parishioner Elizabeth Manuszak, who first learned of the “mercy mats” idea and brought it back to the parish. Kathy Przeklas of St. Ephrem volunteered with 10 other women from the parish to make the mats as part of St. Ephrem’s monthlong commitment to Mercy in Action.
Przeklas said volunteers from the parish recently provided a meal for 150 people at St. Aloysius Parish in downtown Detroit and spent time working with the Capuchins at On the Rise Bakery, and were moved by the opportunity to make comfortable sleeping mats for those experiencing homelessness.
“We have a lot of plastic bags from Meijer and Kroger around the parish that we could use from prior events, so we have learned how to turn the plastic bags into a kind of yarn called ‘plarn,’ and from there, we made our own looms and have learned how to make a nice, long mat that can be used for someone who doesn’t have a place to lay their head,” Przeklas said.
Saturday’s event was mostly about making the “plarn” to be weaved into mats — the weavers will continue to work on the mats after the Mercy in Action Day of Service — after which they will be donated to the NOAH Project Detroit (Networking, Organizing and Advocating for the Homeless).
Prior distributions have gone to the Motor City Mitten Mission, the Hispanic Outreach Ministry at St. Clement of Rome Parish in Romeo and St. Aloysius Parish in Detroit.
St. Michael parishioner Donna Nesbitt said the mats make a world of difference for those sleeping outside. Not only do they make sleeping more comfortable, but the effort shows people who are experiencing homelessness that someone is thinking about and supporting them.
“When I went downtown to the NOAH Project to donate them, I was bringing the mats into the building, and this gentleman asked me if he could have a brown mat. I said, 'Certainly,' and after I gave him a mat, the look on his face just lit up,” Nesbitt said.
To date, volunteers from St. Michael and its fellow parishes have made 53 mercy mats in total.
Nancy Toerville, a St. Michael parishioner, has been making mercy mats for five years, doing everything from making the plarn to doing the weaving at home during the winter months.
On Mercy in Action Day, she was making plarn while guiding fellow St. Michael parishioners Abby Acker and Christine McElroy through weaving the plarn into a sleeping mat.
“Just knowing that people are going to be able to use these mats gives me a sense of gratitude,” Toerville said. “It makes me feel good to be contributing to something, but I wish it (homeless) were something that we could put an end to. But it’s wonderful to see the people come together and work to help others.”
When Toerville is working on a mercy mat, she prays for the person who will use it that they will stay safe and that God will watch over them.
“When we are making the mats, we are always thinking about the people who will use the mat,” Toerville said. “A lot of prayers go into it as you make the mats; it’s natural to think about who will be using the mat. It’s humbling when you lay out the finished project and think, ‘This will be someone’s bed.’ This might be all they have. It’s something small for someone you don’t know, but it makes all the difference to them.”
Copy Permalink
