ImageboxPittsburgh MercyLeft ArrowRight ArrowArrow RightCloseContactContactMenuPhone IconSearchFacebookGoogle +InstagramLinkedInPinterestTwitterYouTube
Skip to Main Content
close
Language:
Font Size:
- + Reset
Menu Contact
Close
  • Our Services
    • Behavioral Health
      • About Pittsburgh Mercy Behavioral Health
      • Services for Adults
      • Services for Children & Adolescents
      • Mental Health Rehabilitation & Recovery Services
      • Mental Health Residential Services
    • Addiction Services
      • About Pittsburgh Mercy Addiction Services
      • Services for Adults
      • Services for Children & Adolescents
    • Intellectual Disabilities
      • About Pittsburgh Mercy Intellectual Disabilities Services
      • Day Support & Community Participation Services
      • Residential Services for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
      • Unlicensed Home & Community Services
      • Employment Services
      • Contact
    • Physical Health
      • About Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center
      • Our Services
      • Location & Hours
      • Getting Here
      • Insurances
      • Your Care Team
      • Pharmacy Services
    • Intervention Services
    • Homeless Services
      • Second Avenue Commons
      • About Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net
      • Street Outreach
      • Housing & Care Management
      • Physical Health
      • Project HELP
      • Student Placement Opportunities & Street Medicine Fellowship
      • Awards & Accolades
      • How You Can Help
      • Bethlehem Haven
    • Veterans Services
    • Faith Communities
      • About the Pittsburgh Mercy Parish Nurse & Health Ministry Program
      • About Faith Community Nursing & Health Ministry
      • Education for Faith Communities
      • Resources for Faith Communities
  • Your Care
  • Engage
  • Give
  • Our Organization
    • Home
    • About
    • Careers
      • Administration
      • Behavioral Health Services
      • Medical
      • Nursing
      • Professional & Management
    • Training
    • Events
    • News
      • Stories Of Hope
    • Contact Us
Close
  • Need Help? Call us.
  • Send us a Message

Pittsburgh Mercy
1200 Reedsdale Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15233-2109 USA

Call 1-877-637-2924

Email info@pittsburghmercy.org

Pittsburgh Mercy

Need Help? Call us.

1-877-637-2924

Send us a Message

  • Home
  • About
  • Careers
    • Administration
    • Behavioral Health Services
    • Medical
    • Nursing
    • Professional & Management
  • Training
  • Events
  • News
    • Stories Of Hope
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Your Care
  • Engage
  • Give
  • Behavioral Health
    • About Pittsburgh Mercy Behavioral Health
    • Services for Adults
    • Services for Children & Adolescents
    • Mental Health Rehabilitation & Recovery Services
    • Mental Health Residential Services
  • Addiction Services
    • About Pittsburgh Mercy Addiction Services
    • Services for Adults
    • Services for Children & Adolescents
  • Intellectual Disabilities
    • About Pittsburgh Mercy Intellectual Disabilities Services
    • Day Support & Community Participation Services
    • Residential Services for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
    • Unlicensed Home & Community Services
    • Employment Services
    • Contact
  • Physical Health
    • About Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center
    • Our Services
    • Location & Hours
    • Getting Here
    • Insurances
    • Your Care Team
    • Pharmacy Services
  • Intervention Services
  • Homeless Services
    • Second Avenue Commons
    • About Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net
    • Street Outreach
    • Housing & Care Management
    • Physical Health
    • Project HELP
    • Student Placement Opportunities & Street Medicine Fellowship
    • Awards & Accolades
    • How You Can Help
    • Bethlehem Haven
  • Veterans Services
  • Faith Communities
    • About the Pittsburgh Mercy Parish Nurse & Health Ministry Program
    • About Faith Community Nursing & Health Ministry
    • Education for Faith Communities
    • Resources for Faith Communities
Stories Of Hope

Helping Hands group at Country Meadows donates mats for individuals experiencing homelessness

Two groups of three women each standing with large pile of plastic mats between them
Posted on February 8, 2022 by Zandy Dudiak

One woman is partially blind. Another is 97 years old. They gather with five other women in their 80s and 90s to make plastic mats for those experiencing homelessness served by Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net (OSN).

“They’re old,” Diane Knopp, an associate in the Dynamic Living Program at Country Meadows of South Hills in Bridgeville, says as she describes the faithful volunteers. “They’re in pain.”

But age and physical ailments don’t make a difference when the women gather for the Helping Hands Service Project, where they work as a team to make plastic mats that individuals living on the street can place under their sleeping bags. The mats provide a barrier between the sleeping bag and the ground, something that helps keep the bags dry.

Two men standing at open hatchback of Jeep piled high with plastic mats
Father Hal Baily, left, and Pittsburgh Mercy President and CEO Tony Beltran, right, inspect 32 donated mats headed for persons served by Operation Safety Net.

The volunteers have been donating mats to OSN for several years. They connected with OSN through Father Hal Baily, who provides spiritual support for colleagues and persons served by Pittsburgh Mercy.

Plastic mats for the homeless in a stack
The women at Country Meadows make plastic mats that homeless individuals can put as a ground cover under their sleeping bags.

After they cut off the tops and bottoms of plastic shopping bags, the women fold and loop the bags together to make a ball of “yarn,” which volunteer Karen Fortney then crochets into the mats, Diane says.

Because the shopping bags come in many colors, each mat is unique. One Pittsburgh-style mat, made in honor of a volunteer who had passed away, used only black and gold bags, Diane says.

Edith Moore, one of the Helping Hands volunteers who had made blankets for children in need through Project Linus for years, also makes and donates hats and scarves to OSN.

Six women posing for photo with plastic mats stacked behind them
Gathered around the finished items they made are volunteer Karen Fortney and mat makers Millie San Rocco, Sylvia Mudryk (on floor), Edith Moore (with hat), Ruth Brosky, and Eleanor Miller.
Tagged in:
  • Country Meadows of South Hills
  • help for the homeless
  • homelessness
  • Operation Safety Net
  • Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net
Share on:
  • In the News
  • News Releases
  • Social Media
  • Media Relations
  • Stories Of Hope
  • Annual Report
  • Credits

Categories

  • Art In Therapy
  • Employment
  • Family
  • Gratitude
  • Health & Well-Being
  • History
  • Independence
  • Lifesharing
  • Mindfulness
  • Mission
  • Recovery
  • Street Outreach
  • Therapeutic Gardening
  • Uncategorized
  • Veterans Services

Archives

Back to Top
Pittsburgh Mercy

A member of Trinity Health, serving
in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy

A Member of Trinity Health

Pittsburgh Mercy
1200 Reedsdale Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15233-2109
USA

Call 1-877-637-2924

Email info@pittsburghmercy.org

Contact Us Feedback

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Notice of Nondiscrimination & Accessibility Requirements
  • Notice of Privacy Practices
  • Terms of Use
  • Site Map
  • http://CARF%20Accredited

© 2023 Pittsburgh Mercy

Website by Imagebox