The Cedar Rapids Metro Circut Lay Ministry Board and Kenwood Park UMC mat weaving team invite you and your congregation to participate in a ministry to the homeless people in Cedar Rapids. Since last February, we have been weaving sleeping mats made from plasƟc shopping bags and delivering them to Green Square Meals where they have been well received by the homeless population that receives meals there.

The weaving requires a loom consisting of a mat-sized rectangular wooden frame with pegs on the short ends and metal rods on thelong sides. Kenwood Park and St. Paul’s have looms made by local crafssmen. The weaving team consists of 4 people who do the actual weaving and a small crew who cut up the donated plastic bags to create the plastic yarn used to weave the mats. Drawing plans for building the loom and training videos are available on the Midwest Mission web site https://www.midwestmission.org/loom.

The team at Kenwood Park UMC is willing to assist your team in getting this ministry started at your church. (If you would prefer to simply become a member of an existing loom team please contact us.) As a first step, we would suggest visiting a weaving session at Kenwood Park UMC. Our weaving
sessions are from 1:30 to 3:30 pm on Thursday afternoon. If that is not convenient or you would like more information or training, contact me at w.western06@gmail.com.

-Warren Western