In September of 2023, friends Terri Possehn, Beverly McCammant, Lucy Axmear and Beverly Kies began meeting weekly for fellowship, lunch and playing cards, eventually turning their little group into something bigger—turning plastic bags into mats, or insulated mattresses, for the homeless. 

They were encouraged to begin the project after watching a demonstration by the Midwest Missions of Iowa making the mats out of discarded bags. Feeling they could do something to do God’s work by helping others, they started their mat-making journey. 

“We determine that making the mats was something we were able to do to make an impact to help others and to do the work of God as He instructs us to do to help our fellow mankind,” Possehn said. 

Due to the varying sizes of each bag, there is no exact amount of how many bags each mat needs. They have to flatten the plastic bags, fold and cut the ends off and tie the bags together before the whole mat is made. The process of making such mats can take up to five hours but by the end, they are as big as a twin-size mattress.

“They are able to take one of these mats to help protect them from the elements when they have to sleep on the ground or the sidewalk in tents,” Passehn said. 

The group of four ladies were not the only ones working on these mats.

“It has been a very joyful thing to be involved in and the fellowship that it gives for people of all ages,” Possehn said. “I also bring individuals with disabilities that I work with to work on it and it’s just been a wonderful wonderful thing.”

Possehn and her group send the mats to the Bidwell Pantry in Des Moines, who will distribute the mats to people who struggle to find homes or places to sleep. Other organizations take mat donations such as The Midwest Missions of Iowa, distributing them wherever they’re needed, even worldwide to places such as Ukraine.