Bags to Beds
I’ve never been a crafty person. In fact, I could be the poster child for Pinterest fails. I look at the things that some of my friends make and I’m dumbfounded by their talent and creativity. But what impresses me, even more, is how some of my friends use their talents for the purpose of helping complete strangers. These friends not only have beautifully creative minds, but they also have beautifully giving hearts.
About a month ago, one of my friends made a Facebook post asking for plastic bags so she could make beds for the homeless. I didn’t understand what kind of bags she wanted (trash bags like you buy at the store? Grocery store bags?). A week or two after her initial post, I was riding the elevator with a coworker who was toting a Food Lion bag stuffed with other grocery store bags. Someone commented on her bag of bags and she said she had brought them for our friend who was making beds for the homeless. Ah-hah! That’s what kind of bags she wanted! Later, when I got home, I gathered up bags to bring to her.
About a week ago, she explained the process of how she makes the beds. First, the bags have to be prepared—it takes about 500 bags to make one bed. The bottom seam is cut out and then the bag is cut into strips—these strips are called “plarn” (plastic yarn). Making the plarn for one bed takes about two hours. Once the plarn is ready, she takes this GINORMOUS knitting needle thingy and uses it to knit the plarn into beds, with each bed taking about 10-12 hours to complete. As you can tell, the whole process is extremely time-consuming.
So, why does someone spend so much time doing something like this for people they’ve never even met? Why does she come home from a full-time job and instead of making items for her jewelry business, opt to spend her limited amount of free time making plarn beds for the homeless? Remember what I said about giving hearts? Well, that’s why. For some people, helping others is not only what comes naturally but also what fulfills them and makes their giving hearts happy.
I have other friends who are in bands and donate their talents and time at fundraisers for people they don’t know. I have friends who give money to charitable organizations. I know people who have volunteered at nursing homes or similar facilities. And I’m sure I know people who give their time, talents, and/or money to different causes but I’m not aware of it because they prefer, and are able, to keep it on the down low.
Seeing people who do things like this helps to restore my faith in the world. Sometimes I don’t even want to look at news articles because the comments are people arguing with each other, calling each other names, and being just plain hateful. I think to myself, “People suck. They’re spending all of their free time being nasty to each other over the Internet, robbing each other, or beating on and shooting at each other.”
Then, I see a post like my friend’s, asking people to donate plastic bags and I realize that the world is still packed with people who truly care about their fellow human beings regardless of race, social status, or political opinions…
And I’m proud to call these beautiful, giving people my friends.
