Scouts seek plastic bags to help homeless
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A Baldwin Township Girl Scout troop is asking people in the South Hills to save the ubiquitous plastic bags from the grocery store and other shops to help the homeless -- and the planet.
Members of Troop 1095 plan to make sleeping mats for homeless people out of recycled plastic shopping bags, said Sarah Jugovic, 17, a student at Baldwin High School who is heading the project.
Sarah is the daughter of Sue and Tom Jugovic of Baldwin Township; her mom is her troop leader.
Scouts will collect plastic shopping bags -- as well as donations of personal hygiene products -- from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Baldwin Township municipal building.
Larger and heavier gauge plastic garbage bags cannot be used in the project.
Township manager Mary McGinley said she was very impressed with Sarah when the teen approached her about using space in the township building for the collection.
"It is a good idea for someone of her age to be so involved," Ms. McGinley said.
Sarah said the project, called Bags to Mats, cuts down on recycling material and puts it to good use by helping people who are in need.
Sarah and four friends in the troop -- Lindsey Patton, Marisa Wood, Elissa Flavin and Mary Tkach -- are working together to help her earn the Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts.
Sarah said she got the idea for the project after she read about a group of Washington County women who "crochet" the sleeping mats from plastic bags.
She had to develop a project plan -- and a way to make it work -- and present it to the national Scouts Gold Award board.
She then went to the mat makers in Washington County to learn how to make them. Organizer Georgia Coleman of McMurray taught Sarah how to "crochet'' the bags. Now Sarah is teaching friends, family and anyone who is willing to get "hooked," she said.
The Baldwin Scouts still need a place to set up shop for monthly production meetings.
Members of the troop make the mats by folding a bag three times before using scissors to cut off the handles and bottom. Then the bag is cut into three circular strips that are loop knotted together and rolled into a ball. The lightweight plastic yarn is portable, durable, weatherproof and eco-friendly. Sarah noted that it's an ideal material for mats that will be used in all seasons indoors or outdoors.
The Scouts have added an extra feature to the mats: Each will have a layer to use as a storage pocket, which the Scouts will fill with the toiletries they collect Saturday.
It's a painstaking process: Sarah said it takes about 50 hours to make one mat. The Scouts will make the mats during the fall and winter and plan to have them ready by spring.
The group is considering giving the mats to the Jubilee Kitchen or Operation Safety Net, organizations that provide services for the homeless.
Officials at Safety Net told Sarah that on any given night from November through March, some 130 people will seek emergency shelter within the Pittsburgh city limits.
For details, email jugovic312@verizon.net. To reach the mat makers in Washington County, email MatMakers15317@gmail.com. For more on the Girl Scouts and the Gold Award, visit www.girlscouts.org.
First Published September 22, 2011 4:59 am
