SAN ANTONIO — Plastic grocery bags: What do you do with them? Recently, H-E-B donated 8,000 of its plastic bags to be made into sleeping mats. The organization 'Teens Give Back' made the mats for people experiencing homelessness.
Addie Roberts is one of the teenagers behind the project which benefits SAMMinistries.
"It is so cool," the teenager said. "It is art, and it is craftsmanship too. It puts things into perspective. You need to be grateful because some people just don't have simple things that we do."
The 17-year-old said it is like crocheting and with practice anyone can do it. Roberts also sees it as tackling two major issues at the same time.
"It takes us about 700 to 900 plastic bags per mat," Roberts said. "And about 15 to 20 hours of work. We are also helping the environment, but helping the people in need."
SAMMinistries COO Gay Lynn Schwenk called it a tremendous, lifesaving gift.
"Something that we would normally throw in the garbage is being made into an item that helps somebody sleep at night," she said. "Somebody who has literally almost nothing. Even something that's small they know that somebody took the time to make that and that we care enough to take it out them to make sure that they have that. And oftentimes, that is the hope that somebody needs to go on."
Schwenk said SAMMinistries is always looking for items for people to donate and some are critically needed right now, including socks, underwear and hygiene products.
Roberts said Teens Give Back help others organizations, and always looking for teens to join the group.