92-year-old Sarasotan works to provide beds for the homeless

At 92, Ida Andalora has found a new passion.

Andalora makes plarn, yarn made out of plastic bags, as a raw material woven to make sleeping mats for homeless people in Sarasota. She spends about three hours every day sitting by the window of her tidy apartment working on cutting plastic bags, pulling them taut and then tying them together.

Then she hands the prepared plarn off to Michele Penn, who runs Bags to Beds. Penn crochets the plarn she gets from Andalora into mats and gives them out to people she runs across out and about in Sarasota.

But Andalora hasn’t always been this mobile.

She had a stroke about 12 years ago, from which she has all but recovered. Before she started making plarn 10 months ago, she still couldn’t use her pointer and middle fingers on her left hand.

Andalora once was a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast, but after she lost the use of her fingers, it was difficult to pick up the puzzle pieces. After making plarn for a couple months, Andalora found she was again using her fingers.

“My mother is a machine,” said Angie Antonucci. “She works on these bags because it helps her feel relevant again.”

Andalora said she’s known in her building as the bag lady, just like Penn is known in her neighborhood.

Penn said it’s about time everyone knows Andalora is her secret, behind-the-scenes partner.

“Before Ida started helping me, I made eight beds because my husband, David Penn, and I were having to do it all,” said Penn. “He liked supporting me in doing this, but he didn’t like preparing the plarn. It’s nice now because there’s someone like Ida who’s just as passionate about this as I am.”

Penn said Andalora makes about 90% of the plarn used in the Bags to Bed project. Without her, Penn said, she wouldn’t be able to make the beds as efficiently as she does.

“I love telling people about Ida making our plarn because I love the shock on their faces,” said Penn. “One time, she was sick for a couple of days and I kept asking Angie, ‘Is she better?’ because she wasn’t able to make the plarn while she was sick.”

Penn and Andalora have a special relationship, one that transcends a normal business relationship.

“Nobody is like Ida. She’s my behind the scenes, she and I are equal partners. We have the same passion for this,” said Penn.

Penn has now given out 62 plarn beds, and she estimates around 55 of those beds were made from plarn Andalora prepared by herself. It takes Penn 10 hours to crochet the plarn to make a mat, and it takes Andalora a week to make enough plarn for Penn to use for one mat. It’s a labor-intensive process that doesn’t go without gratitude.

Andalora and her daughter  have delivered a prepared bed to a homeless man.

Andalora could barely speak when she thought about his reaction.

“It was the most gratifying (thing), it makes me want to cry,” said Andalora. “He accepted it so humbly. I even gave him $5!”

Penn, who calls Andalora and herself the “Thelma and Louise of plarning” wants to eventually expand Bags to Beds around the Sarasota area, with teams like her and Andalora.

Andalora said after her hand regained much of its function, she realized how fortunate she is to be helping.

“My pillow says I am blessed,” said Andalora, pointing to a pillow on her couch. “And blessed I am.”