Mats donated to sheriff’s department
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
For months, volunteers have met at Washburn Methodist Church on Wednesdays to gather, cut and tie plastic bags together to make washable, reusable beds for the homeless. Ten of the completed beds have just been donated to the McLean County Sheriff’s Office for deputies to give out to those in need.
Peggy Hight, organizer of the Wil-Mat project in Washburn, and volunteer Elaine Carr presented the mats to the sheriff’s department on March 18, asking them to pass them on to any individuals they meet that are homeless or otherwise in need.
Each mat takes over 1,000 plastic bags to make and are hand cut and woven by volunteers that meet at Washburn Methodist Church every Wednesday. The mats, since they are made entirely of plastic, are completely waterproof and can simply be re-tied if any of the loops happen to come loose or break. The mats are about three feet wide and six feet long and can be used either to sleep on and act as a barrier between the user and the cold or wet ground, or as a blanket to cover up with.
