Who we are

The Lafayette Plarn Project is for those interested in assisting the homeless in and around Lafayette, Indiana. We are RECYCLING WITH A PURPOSE. 

It started with a plastic bag and a need for a warm blanket. Now it’s a movement that’s making hundreds of lives better.

The Lafayette Plarn Project was formed in 2017 by Julie Conlon in response to a book she had read-- Global Girlfriends: How One Mom Made It Her Business to Help Women In Poverty Worldwide.

In this book, the author describes how in some countries yarn was not available so the women knitted or crocheted using plastic.

Conlon discovered that plarn (plastic yarn) could be used to make sleeping mats which are a softer, warmer and cleaner mat for people who are homeless to sleep on. She began working with Lafayette Transitional Housing Center (LTHC). She chose to do the work right at LTHC, where people experiencing homelessness  can go for help while preserving their dignity.

Sleeping mats and tote bags are available to homeless clients at LTHC just for the asking. At any given time 2 - 6 clients are on the waiting list for a mat. Making a single plarn mat requires cutting up 700 plastic bags. There are over 100 volunteers not only from Lafayette, Indiana but also from outside the city and the state. Some contribute by preparing the recycled bags for crocheting and others crochet the sleeping mats and totes and other items for sale.

Tote bags, handbags, cellphone bags and hats, along with special order items (e.g. a dog mat) are available for purchase. 100% of the money raised from the sales of these items goes to LTHC. 


To learn how to do some of the things we do go to the Videos page.

"This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and analyze traffic. Your IP address and user-agent are shared with Google along with performance and security metrics to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics, and to detect and address abuse."