DOWAGIAC — Sophie Scott is currently driving a truck filled to the brim with plastic shopping bags. Instead of the bags building up in cupboards and forgotten about in backseats, they will become a sense of warmth for those in need.

Living Alternatives for the Developing Disabled Inc. is collecting plastic bags at its corporate office location, 300 Whitney St., Dowagiac, to create blankets for the homeless through the community living supports program. L.A.D.D. Inc., founded in 1978, provides services and support for individuals with both physical and mental disabilities in Berrien, Cass, Calhoun, Oakland and Van Buren Counties.

An array of plastic bags woven together in a variety of colors, including purple, orange and standard white, are made into 48- by 40-inch blankets, the exact size of a wooden pallet.

The idea to create these plastic, durable, waterproof blankets came from Scott, a manager and supervisor of two-day programs offered through L.A.D.D. Inc. in Niles and Coloma.

Scott said from her roots in Chicago, she noticed homeless individuals tend to sleep on a pallet-sized piece of cardboard. The blankets will serve as a barrier between a person’s body and the cold from the ground or cardboard piece.

“By this being plastic, there is no bed bugs,” Scott said. “They can keep it for a duration, and they can put it on top of the cardboard and have warmth.”

In an effort to enhance and do more, Scott said she saw elderly people on TV making the blankets, which inspired her to look into a way for her programs to create them. After watching countless hours of YouTube tutorials with her mom and trying out various techniques, Scott landed on one and said, “That’s us.”

Scott made adaptions to a skid, which a company donated to the program. After making the tweaks, everyone in the community living support programs was able to participate in creating the blankets. The skid uses a weaving-type process to pull the plastic bags in and out. The bags are then tied on the ends.

“Our people love to give, and it just makes them feel good,” Scott said.

As the program is filled with other activities, a day is planned out to work on the blankets. One blanket can take the group five days to make, if they set aside an hour or two on a given day.

“You see, it takes quite a while to put one out,” Scott said. “The end results are where they really shine. They go, ‘wow we did that.’”

Since July, the group has created five blankets. One was already donated to a homeless individual in Niles.

The program has set a goal to make 25 blankets by the time the weather gets cold. Currently, L.A.D.D. Inc. donates canned food to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. Scott plans to donate the blankets to the center upon their completion.

“That’s a place that we love, and we see they do so much for the community,” Scott said. “We feel comfortable that they are going to make sure that the people who need them get them.”

To create a higher volume of blankets, the group has added its sister program in Coloma to help contribute to the project. Scott is in the process of building two skids for them.

Now, the program is seeking more plastic bags, as Scott said it can take more than 500 bags to create just one blanket.

“People have a lot of bags, and they keep them because they don’t want to toss them,” Scott said. “They pile up, pile up and pile up. We are trying to explain that we are an outlet.”

Scott recommended households keep half of their plastic bags and donate the other half to L.A.D.D. Inc.