(Supplied: Kamloops Homeless Mat Project, Facebook)

The organizer of Homeless Mat Project in Kamloops is reaching out to the community for any plastic bags people may have laying around.

Sharlene Froese started the program five years ago, since then, roughly 500 mats have been made for people in need.

While most of the mats stay in Kamloops and the surrounding communities, some have been sent as far Ukraine.

“And the mats have gone down to the coast and we do drop them off in Cache Creek and they pass them out there as well so its kind of all over whoever needs it gets it.”

And as stores transition away from using plastic bags, Froese says it makes it more difficult to collect them– as each mat uses roughly 700 plastic bags.

However as Froese explains, they have been been adapting.

“The other thing that we can use is the plastic from table cloths that you use when you have a picnic or a get together or whatever, that is also plastic and we are using those.”

She explains they received several yellow plastic bags from from Rotary Food Drive, which helped the Homeless Mat project significantly

Froese notes they are always looking for donations, of plastic bags, which can be dropped off at the Brock Seniors Centre.

“They can contact us through our Kamloops Homeless Mat project on Facebook as well and I can make arrangements for them to drop off at my place and if they don’t drive we will figure something out.”

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