A group at the Casey United Methodist Church meets every Tuesday morning to create homemade items they donate to various charitable causes.

By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times, September 2025

Most people work throughout their adult years, earning a living and raising a family. Then, in later years, many may find the need for something to fill all those hours. A group at the Casey United Methodist Church recently found a way to fill some of the time in a benevolent and sociable manner. 

The group, known as Stitching for Missions, meets regularly every Tuesday morning at the church to create homemade items they then donate to various charitable causes near and far. 

Joan Acker, one of the group members, explained how the project began.

“Some people can’t be idle,” Acker said. “We started brainstorming, and our circle bought a loom for making mats. So that started it, in the spring of 2025, and then someone said we should be sewing, too.”

The loom is used for turning plastic shopping bags into sleeping mats for the homeless, providing a barrier from the cold, wet ground. Donated plastic bags are cut to the appropriate size to fit the loom and are then woven into the body of the mat. The group’s first mat is currently in production. A potato masher has been repurposed as a tightener for the loom, pulling the bags snugly into place before the next row is added.

“It will take between 600 and 700 plastic bags to make a mat, and it will be 3 feet by 6 feet,” Acker said.  

The completed mats will be donated for use in the Des Moines metro area.

While some volunteers work on the mat, others are sewing flannel diapers, school bags, receiving blankets or quilts.

“On Nov. 1, we’ll take all our things for the ingathering down to Greenfield, so then we’ll be able to start all over, after they send out new lists of the items they would like,” Acker said.

Donations of plastic shopping bags and/or sewing materials are greatly appreciated.

“Right now, the main thing we need is flannel,” Acker said.

As a reward for their hard work each Tuesday morning, the group generally gathers for lunch at Pioneers Pub & Grub afterwards. Husbands also join, when available. 

Since the group formed in the spring of this year, there isn’t a clear answer as to whether they will continue meeting weekly through the winter. But, all agreed that if weather is particularly bad on any Tuesday, they prefer to stay home.

The Stitching for Missions group welcomes anyone to come join them, and there is no requirement to be a member of the church. 

Looking to the future, the members say they are happy to keep busy helping others and will adjust their projects to meet the needs of the groups to which they donate.

“We’ll keep going along, as long as we have material and energy, I guess,” Acker said.