New Life for Old Bags Program

“As of the end of 2025 we will no longer hold NLOB sessions at MBT. We will continue to collect completed mats and give them to the MBT Homeless Project to deliver to the unhoused. We will still supply plastic bags and any plarn, plastic yarn, until supplies are depleted. Call the MBT Office, 312.943.7801, and we will get in touch about providing supplies.”

NLOB WarehouseNew Life for Old Bags was a very successful community based program that gathered volunteers to “knit” sleeping mats out of plastic grocery bags. These mats were resilient to weather and were distributed around the city to unhoused individuals.

MBT’s NLOB group was formed in fall of 2014. And with the help of our Sangha and community friends and groups like the Breakers Senior Residences at Edgewater Beach, Stephane Spencer and her group, Jewish United Fund Volunteer Network, Comer Middle School and various sororities, we were able to complete 343 mats from 2014–2025. All were distributed in the area from the Loop to Uptown areas where the unhoused lived.

As of the end of 2025, we will no longer gather at MBT for NLOB. We will continue to collect completed mats and give them to the MBT Homeless Project to deliver to the unhoused. We will still supply plastic bags and any plarn, plastic yarn, until supplies are depleted. Call the MBT Office, 312.943.7801, and we will get in touch about providing supplies.