Sleeping mats for the homeless

Ten years ago, we found out my stepson was a heroin addict. This came as a complete shock to his father and I. After confronting him, we gave him the option of moving out or going to rehab. He chose rehab, but did not like the rehab and had his mom pick him up. Now he was on the streets, as I was not comfortable having him live here with us. He had od'd in our bathtub on my birthday. We found him in the tub with a needle in his arm. I have small grandchildren, and refused to have them subjected to this behavior.

Because neither of us knew how to deal with this, I joined several on-line groups for parents of drug addicted children. One of the groups I found was Angels in Motion. The group was started by a mother with a son who was a heroin addict. She would walk the streets of Kensington Pa looking for him when he failed to come home. She was able to find him and get him into a rehab. He is still in recovery. But she didn't forget the people she had met on the streets of Kensington. Kensington is still one of the worst places in the US for heroin addiction. The cops have given up trying to stop the open air dealing and using in Kensington. People from all walks of life are in Kensington. Young, old, black, or white. Most started with an addiction to opiates. Doctors overprescribed oxycontin, a drug originally developed for late stage cancer patients. They would give it to anyone. Tooth extraction, minor surgery, they would give a 30 day supply for an injury that required maybe 5 days of pain relief. When the patient would get hooked on the drug, and unable to get more, they would turn to heroin, a cheaper, more readily obtained option.

Angels in Motion grew to a group of over 14,000 mothers and fathers or other family members trying to find their addicted loved one. The group goes out on the streets 3 times a week handing out Blessing Bags to the addicted. The bags consist of snacks, drinks, hygiene items, and messages of hope. In the winter they collect socks and coats for the homeless, as socks are the number one requested item by the homeless. When I first connected with AIM, I was intrigued by the number of addicts they were able to get into recovery. They were able to bypass the redtape and get the addict into a rehab as soon as they were ready for help. If you wait, you usually lose the chance to get them into recovery because by the next day they will have changed their mind.

Another one of AIM's functions was to make sleeping mats. The mats are made from recycled grocery bags. The bags are cut into strips, made into balls of plarn (plastic yarn) and crocheted into 6' x 3' mats. The mats repel water, are easily dried in the winter, and provide a layer of protection between the addict and the ground. Insects are also repelled by the plastic. When I first started making the mats, I would cut the strips with scissors. This was very time consuming. I eventually bought a self healing cutting mat and a rotary cutter. This streamlined the process exponentially. In the time since I started crocheting for this group, I have made at least 25 mats for the homeless. I enjoy crocheting very much, and feel great pride knowing I am making someone else's life a little bit more bearable. We also crochet a strap for the mat so they are easily rolled up and carried from place to place.