July 25,2025
I have been practicing mental health exercises as I seek to keep my stress level at bay. I will admit to being stressed about our country’s Democracy, the number of people diagnosed or being treated for cancer, the international workers and students being kidnapped by ICE, the ongoing treatment of the people of Gaza as they are shot while seeking food. I could go on and on, and you the reader have your own set of stressors whether individual, family, community, or the international scenes playing out across the globe.
I control my stress level by limiting my screen time, whether TV or Facebook. I also have a planned water exercise activity. While it may seem small and insignificant I am also working to recycle in an attempt to keep our landfills from bulging with non-disintegrating products such as plastics.
I carry canvas bags in the car for grocery shopping, but I still receive numerous plastic sacks from variety stores or shops.
There is a solution, and it aids in my stress control.
Midwest Mission, under the leadership of Danille Curtis, has several Greene County churches creating plastic sleeping mats for Iowa, the Nation, and some international usage. Midwest Mission was able to donate 800 mats last year. They are available for local persons who may be unhomed, or sent to urban centers in Iowa, or even internationally for individuals who may be sleeping on bare ground. The creation of the mats is not limited to churches. Some libraries have an ongoing project, along with 4-H clubs, and Scouting organizations.
I became interested and am donating my plastic bags to the Rippey Methodist Church. Mat leaders Dick and Jo Bardole shared that it takes 1,000 bags to make a mat of 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. The bottom and handles are cut off the bags. The bag is then cut in half, and the two strips are securely knotted together before weaving. They are then tightly woven together to make a water-resistant mat. The mats are woven on large wood looms, like we used to make potholders as youngsters on a 6-inch square loom with a long metal hook. Over, and under, over and under across the frame.
Danille shares that about 400 looms have been placed in the upper Midwest and while the mats were previously crocheted, for the past 2-1/2 years looms have been used.
I am proud of the church members in Rippey as they have created 88 mats, working on 89 in less than two years. The bags being used in Rippey come from Perry, Rockwell City, Des Moines, and other individual donations.
The handles and bag bottoms are not wasted. Danille states the handles and bottoms after being cut are formed into a ball and shared with the Winterset Lions club. They are then sent to a company that makes refabricated lawn pieces, and periodically after donating enough plastic the Lion’s club receives an outdoor furniture piece.
In a rather touching story shared by Danille, she indicated some long term care residents with dementia work to smooth the bags in preparation for cutting.
Conversation flows and positive emotions come from working together across the loom as comfort to others is provided in the form of sleeping mats, along with keeping plastic out of the landfills.
This is certainly the time to help each other on our planet Earth.
