If you're looking for a good way to get rid of those plastic grocery bags, the Kentucky Career Center in Maysville needs them.
The Maysville office of the Kentucky Career Center is offering a helping hand to the Northern Kentucky Area Development District/Kentucky Career Center on a project to help homeless veterans.
According to Jason Hutchinson with the NKADD, the Employment Connections program project to convert plastic bags into sleeping mats for homeless veterans began as a community service project for K-Tap recipients serviced through his office.
Hutchinson said the first mats produced were given to homeless veterans in Grant County and now the project has taken off, with other Career Center offices offering to collect plastic bags, to benefit all Kentucky homeless veterans.
He said the homeless veterans are identified by contacts across the state who works with veterans.
The bags, like those used at Kroger, Walmart, Kmart, and IGA are converted into yarn, which is then crocheted into a sleeping mat. He said it takes about two weeks to produce 10 mats and the goal would be to make 250 mats per year.
"If we could turn out 250 to 300 mats a year…that would be great. There's a need and while this may not seem like a lot, we can help get them off the ground," Hutchinson said.
To assist Hutchinson with the project, the Maysville Kentucky Career Center office, located at the East Second and Government streets, is collecting plastic bags from the local community. Hutchinson said if there are homeless veterans in the Buffalo Trace region, they will receive a sleeping mat. It takes 1,000 bags to make one mat.
Tammy Holbrook is the contact point for the Maysville office and bags can be dropped at the Career Center office, or collected at local businesses, churches, or civic organizations who want to participate in the project and then collected by Holbrook.
The Ledger Independent will have a collection box in the main lobby at 120 Limestone Street; office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, contact Holbrook at 606-584-8147.
The Ledger Independent is online at: http://www.maysville-online.com