Bags to Beds
“In a city with so many resources, there are still people who struggle to survive. So I thought, ‘What can I do to help?’”
Last August, college senior Kaitlin McLean saw a video about people who crochet plastic bags into yarn—or “plarn.” Kaitlin thought it was a cool idea. But it wasn’t until she walked downtown and saw people sleeping on the streets that she saw its true promise: Maybe she could turn bags into beds for homeless people. So that day, she got to work on her first plarn sleeping mat and started a campus-wide movement.
Kaitlin’s mom had been trying to get her daughter to try crocheting for years. So when she saw the plarn video on social media, she thought it might interest her eco-conscious daughter. Sure enough, Kaitlin was impressed. Around the same time, she read a news story about the dozens of homeless people who die every year on the streets of Salt Lake City due to exposure.
Kaitlin quickly put two and two together: Plarn mats would provide cushion and a waterproof barrier against the freezing, wet ground for people sleeping on the streets. And she could help.
Even though Kaitlin was a full-time student at the University of Utah with limited free time, she was determined to put what little time she had to good use. If she couldn’t make mats for every homeless person in Salt Lake City, she could at least make one. Kaitlin reached out to local homeless shelters to see if they would accept plarn mats, and they said yes. So she learned to crochet and got to work.
Several hours passed, and Kaitlin had only managed to crochet a foot of her planned 3-by-6-foot mat. She realized that she would make a lot more progress with the help of friends. So she taught them how to crochet, too. They’d gather together, talk, crochet, and hang out—while giving back.
Kaitlin quickly saw that her Bags to Beds project might appeal to more students, so she approached the university’s community outreach center. They loved her idea and connected her with local youth and community groups who volunteered their time as well. Bags to Beds also caught the eye of the university’s athletic directors, who saw it as a great opportunity for their athletes to give back to the community.
The Bags to Beds crew began collecting thousands of plastic bags campus-wide and hosting Plarn Parties to knock out several mats at a time. From the start, Kaitlin took a do-one-teach-one approach. If every person crocheted a mat and then taught someone else to do the same, her movement would spread like wildfire.
Kaitlin also looked to expand Bags to Beds’ reach beyond the campus and started reaching out to local businesses. They were interested, but they wouldn’t work with volunteer organizations that weren’t nonprofits. So Kaitlin started a GoFundMe to turn Bags to Beds into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
In the six months since starting her GoFundMe, Kaitlin has raised over $1,700 for Bags to Beds. With more donations, she hopes that they will be able to become an official nonprofit and afford more tools and outreach to expand their impact.
Kaitlin’s current goal is to make 100 mats by this Thanksgiving. But ultimately, she hopes to grow Bags to Beds until there are no more plastic bags going to waste and no more homeless people sleeping on the cold, wet streets.
