Making mats

“I can do that,” said Penny Thomas.

And she did.

Thomas knew she could help when she saw a Facebook video detailing how plastic bags can be woven into sleeping mats. After learning from the video, she has started an initiative to make as many plastic mats as possible for local homeless shelters to provide something for its tenants to sleep on.

The mats, which are made of roughly 500 to 700 plastic bags and take about eight hours to make, are designed to be lightweight and portable for whomever may need it. The process of making a mat closely resembles crocheting: bags are cut to imitate yarn and are then woven together and tied to form a complete mat.

After using all of her bags at home, Thomas, who is an assistant to Jay County Sheriff Dwane Ford, began collecting bags from the post office and her coworkers at Jay County Jail.

Once she brought her initiative to the jail, the bags, the mats and her workforce multiplied and provided a release for the majority of the women inmates in the jail who volunteered to help her convert bags into mats.

In collaboration with Terri Moser in Bryant and the women in jail, Thomas’ initiative has led to the creation of around 45 sleeping mats. Ten will be donated to Jayland Homeless Shelter at 119 E. North St., Portland, with the rest going to local shelters in Portland, Muncie and Marion as needed.

Vicki Wickleman, who trains officers at the jail, was first hired in 1998 in part to help manage the jail’s first female inmate participant in work release. The jail now houses about 30 women.

Having little to do to take their minds off of their incarceration, Thomas said a lot of the jailed women jumped at the opportunity to help make mats.

Wickleman and Thomas said it boosts their self-esteem and gives them something to buy into. They also know the severity of not knowing where you’re going to sleep that night.

“Some of these girls have been cold and homeless,” Wickleman said. “They know the struggle.”

About a dozen women crochet, Thomas said, with another dozen preparing plastic strips that are then weaved into a mat.

They’ve worked together to convert around 10,000 plastic bags into plastic mats. Combined with Thomas and Moser’s efforts at home, around 30,000 bags have been converted into plastic mats.

Liz Swavola, who researches incarcerated women and the justice system for the Vera Institute of Justice, said that an activity such as converting bags into mats can provide some much needed stimulation for the inmates’ mental health. Without having anything to do, inmates often sit in their cell and dwell on the state of their life, which can look pretty bleak while locked in jail, she said.

Friends of Thomas in Fort Recovery began donating thousands of bags to help keep the jail from running out. She unloaded a few thousand bags from her car before work earlier this month that Jessica Kramer from Fort Recovery had collected.

Thomas said they’ll keep turning the abundance of bags into mats until they run out. Those interested in donating bags in Portland can drop them off at the post office or the jail.

Bread bags and generally any plastic bag can be donated and converted into mats, though they need to be clean, Thomas said. After all, it’s designed for somebody to sleep on it.

In the past Thomas has helped organize other charitable drives at the jail, including making around 120 gift baskets for nursing home residents in Portland and Dunkirk to open on Christmas. She also collects various fleeces to convert into blankets for those who need it.

Thomas, who first started as a dispatcher in 2003, has never collaborated with the jail’s inmates before on a project. She said she has been inspired by their willingness to help and work as a team.