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The Ugly Quilt Group in Mesa, Arizona, has made 18,000 bed rolls for people experiencing homelessness.
When Nona Weisser sees people pushing shopping carts along the streets of Mesa, Arizona, she looks to see if there is a handmade sleeping bag among the belongings.
The sleeping bag, or bedroll, as they’re called, have been made with care by members of the Ugly Quilt Group, which Weisser co-leads. Since 1990, the group has made 18,000 sleeping bags for people experiencing homelessness.
“It’s all scrap fabric or sheets or whatever is donated on the outside, so you’re going to recognize if you had a hand in making that bed roll,” she said.
The quilters lovingly create each roll during their Thursday meetings, held 8 a.m.-2 p.m. October through March, before many snowbird participants head home for the rest of the year.
Each meeting nets 12-14 bed rolls sized for children, teens and adults. Each roll is complete with a “ditty bag” full of hygiene essentials: travel-sized toiletries, hand towels, wash cloths, t-shirts, socks and playing cards. Women’s bags contain feminine hygiene products and children’s bags come with something for them as well, like a stuffed animal.
The Ugly Quilt Group then gives the bed rolls to community partners, including The Salvation Army, for distribution.
At The Salvation Army, Mesa Corps Social Services Director David Sauer distributes them primarily to people experiencing homelessness and others in need.
“They love them,” Sauer said. “Then they lose them—people are stealing them.”
He said that’s why the group aims to make the bed rolls “ugly.” They didn’t want them to be of value for resale—simply nice blankets to have.
Sauer said one individual told him he filed a police report for his stolen bed roll.
“It was that important to him,” he said.
Inside the First Methodist Church’s Outreach Center, the Ugly Quilt Group starts the bedroll process by making an 84- by 84-inch exterior layer from donated dark fabric. Then, queen or king-sized sheets are pinned to the corners. Four men’s neck ties—stacked two side by side—are attached to become a handle for carrying.
From there, the bed roll goes to the sewing room, where five regular sewing volunteers use their machines to sew the materials together. Next, the bedroll is filled. The last step is the stitchers, who finalize the bag, leaving an area for a crawl-in space since the process doesn’t involve zippers.
“Everybody is convinced that there’s prayers in every bag,” Weisser said. “It starts at the table because you think about it. And then when we close each week, we have a little meeting and we ask the Lord to bless those bags and those that receive them.”
Sauer said the group coordinates with The Salvation Army for drop off, sharing 25-50 bags about every other month they’re in session.
The Salvation Army’s biggest distribution time for the bed rolls is May to September, when the Army provides heat relief, Sauer said. During that time, Mesa’s temperatures range from the 90s to triple-digits.
“We hand them out during heat relief just so they can have something to lay on,” he said. “We don’t see as many of our friends during the winter as we do during the summer when they’re trying to get that rest from the heat.”
Recently, Weisser said that when a volunteer delivered the bed rolls to The Salvation Army, they witnessed a couple receiving them. The pair had lost their jobs and subsequently their apartment. They had nothing but the clothes on their back and a few things they could carry, she said.
Then they got the bed rolls.
“They were thrilled,” she said.
With reporting by Scott Johnson and Hillary Jackson
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