Hey, Bre here. We open this week’s episode with talk of murder podcasts, urban farm updates (peas and potatoes are safe to plant), laser eye surgery and killer ants. Everyone has an irrational fear and for Chris, it’s ants.
In this episode, we are trying out a weekly ‘fortune cookie’. Julia has Chris draw a Tarot card and he picked: Judgement Monkey: Sun Wukong, the Monkey Kind from Chinese mythology. This indicates the end before the start of a new journey. I think this is pretty profound since we have some sad news. Jessica, who has been with TNUP from the beginning and who has procured our interviews, written our blogs, and posted on our social media accounts, has decided to step away from the podcast for now. She will be missed and welcomed back should she decide to return. In the meantime, we’ve decided to welcome Julia Gates (Jeremy’s daughter) as an interim and perhaps permanent host. You might have already noticed some changes as we all try to fill Jessica’s shoes by taking on new duties.
Emily Voll, Director of Operations for Bags to Beds joins us in the studio this week. Emily was born in Massachusetts and lived there until she was ten when her family moved to Berthoud, Colorado. Like many young folks, she came to Utah to go to school at the U, where she graduated with a degree in biology.
Bags to Beds uses consumer grocery bags to make bed mats for homeless folks. The founder, Kaitlin McLean wanted to help Utah’s homeless. She had her mom teach her how to crochet, she taught her friends and they started Bags to Beds! Inspired by door mats, the sleeping mats are made of plarn (plastic yarn created by cutting up the grocery bags) and keep body heat from leaching into the ground. Emily first started by working with the inmates at the Utah Men’s Correctional Facility. Bags to Beds supplies the inmates with the tools to help create the plarn mats. Emily likes to tell people she ‘learned how to crochet in prison’. Bags to Beds is run by an all volunteer staff and has chapters all over the country and has expanded into the UK, Canada, and Pakistan.
To learn more about Bags to Beds, please listen to our interview and find them on Instagram and Facebook. You can also email them at bagstobeds@gmail.com.
Emily tells us the most unique thing about Utah is our range of biomes. Utah has wetlands, forests, alpine and deserts. Get out there and enjoy Utah!
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