Miami Proud: South Florida program creates soft place for the homeless

By CHELSEA JONES

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    MIAMI, Florida (WFOR) — Homelessness is a reality for over 27,000 in the state of Florida.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ranks the Sunshine State third in the nation for people living on the streets but one South Florida program is hoping to help by creating a soft place to sleep for people in need.

Grocery bags fill many people’s homes, but at Covenant Living of Florida those bags are being put to better use.

They’re being transformed into sleeping mats.

“Rather than sleeping on hard concrete or benches, they’re sleeping on these mats that’re more comfortable,” said Covenant Living resident Dianne Bowman.

Residents gather Friday mornings to turn grocery bags into “plarn,” a combination of plastic and yarn.

They connect enough bags to make a soccer ball size roll of plarn and then they crochet the mats together.

It takes roughly 650 plastic bags to create a 2.5ft wide and 6ft long mat.

Don Roth, a friend of the Covenant Living of Florida, said the impact is already being seen.

Roth said while getting out of his car one day, he met a man who was unemployed and homeless, but the mats changed his life.

“He said, believe it or not, the ability to sleep on something soft that’s not wet I felt somebody cared enough to make a mat for me. It gave me a totally different perspective on life,” said Roth.

That man now has a job and a place to live and that’s the whole purpose.

The folks at Covenant Living craft the mats before donating them to Hope South Florida, an organization that works to rehabilitate the homeless population.

Its a labor of love by people who are simply spending quality time together for the greater good.

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