It takes dedication to turn thousands of used milk bags into sleeping mats but, for two hours every week, volunteer community members gather at Calvary Pentecostal Church in Peterborough to do exactly that in support of the unhoused community.
To date the group has made 52 sleeping mats and, with a new sponsorship program available through volunteer group Clean Up Peterborough, there is opportunity for more community groups to be a part of the initiative and produce more mats.
“(The mats are) fairly thin and they provide some comfort with cushioning and insulation to keep people from the damp, and they’re fairly light,” says church group organizer Tim Young. “It’s a considerable amount of work to get the mat completed but the group enjoys getting together and having a good time, and the end result is somebody getting a cushioned mat to sleep on.”
Tim first learned to turn four-litre plastic milk bags into sleeping mats on mission trips to Haiti. When he was no longer able to go overseas, he decided to use the newfound skillset at home.
“We thought this would be a good way to get together and do something for the community and show that some people care,” says Tim. “That’s what we’ve been doing ever since.”
Since beginning the initiative in 2023, Tim has built two looms to streamline the process of weaving the bags into 33-by-78-inch mats. The looms have 34 nails on either end to secure the bags and keep them tight within the mat. The bags are cut in half and linked together so that each mat is seven links long, before volunteers cross weave bags through every two rows until they reach the end.
“We have gotten to the point now where we can quickly get them together,” Tim adds, noting the beginning and ending are the toughest parts. “Other than that, it’s fairly simple. Once you get started, it’s just a matter of in and out, over and under, until you’re done.”
Each week, the group of approximately six to eight volunteers (both members of the church and non-members) splits into different “stations” where half of the volunteers do the cutting and looping of the bags into seven-link chains, before passing them on to the weavers.
The efficient process is necessary considering it takes roughly 500 milk bags to create just one sleeping mat. Fortunately, says Tim, the group is always happy to lend their time, and it’s become a social event.
“Everybody seems to enjoy getting together,” Tim says. “They’re talking about family and talking about what’s going on in their lives and what’s going on in the world. It’s just a good time to get together and have some good conversation while we’re still showing the love of Christ to people in our community.”
When the mats are complete — with the group averaging one per week now — they are distributed through Street Level Advocacy, an organization that works with vulnerable populations in the city. The organization delivers the mats where necessary and, according to Tim, the response from users is always encouraging.
“They told us that people were very happy,” he says. “Several people on the streets say they really enjoy them, so we’re glad to be able to supply them.”
Now, volunteer group Clean Up Peterborough is working towards its mission to clean up the planet by partnering with Calvary Church for the “Weave Hope” initiative. The group has been collecting milk bags for months, including from local cafes like KitCoffee and Dreams of Beans every other Friday.
With no shortage of milk bags to repurpose, Clean Up Peterborough founder Steve Paul, upon seeing the volunteer group at Calvary Church in action, saw a need for more of the looms to transform the milk bags into sleeping mats.
“They have it all sorted out and it’s really streamlined and amazing to see,” Steve says. “I saw they’re all having fun, they’re all joking, laughing, and building these wonderful mats at the same time. Seeing this camaraderie, the community, and access to free bags, I thought to myself if we could replicate the loom, people would be likely to want to be involved.”
Community groups, teams, or organizations wanting to support the initiative can sponsor the build of a loom to then be used to weave more mats, with $200 covering the cost of materials as well as an honorarium for the volunteer who builds the loom.
With varying sponsorship levels available, including for schools and businesses who want to build the looms themselves, the support would also allow community groups to use the new looms for regular or one-off volunteer events.
“People can bring the loom in and go ahead and make something for two hours, or it can be something like Calvary (Church) where they’ve got a bit of space to host and hold the loom materials,” says Steve. “There’s lots of opportunities if people want to get involved.”
Given that Clean Up Peterborough’s slogan is “Let’s make a difference together,” Steve suggests it’s community connections like these that fuel the volunteer group.
“The whole part that I really love about this is that we’re all working together to make our community better,” he says.
“Can you imagine if we made 10 more of these looms and we could have groups across the city and even country that were involved in it?”
As for Tim, he’s happy to grow the initiative for the greater good in a way that brings neighbours together.
“It’s being able to give back to the community and show some love and care for the less fortunate in Peterborough,” he says. “In my faith, we’re told by Christ himself to love one another and to look after the less fortunate. I think this is a minor way of doing that, and at the same time, get people in the community involved.”
For more information or to sponsor a loom, email Steve at Clean Up Peterborough at cleanuppeterborough@gmail.com.
