Tulsa Woman Helps Homeless With Re-Purposed Linens

By Sawyer Buccy, News On 6

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. One Tulsa woman is using her company’s scraps to keep the homeless warm this winter.

Tammi Martin works at Superior Linen Service in Tulsa. The company was started in 1954 and 63 years later, the business is still family owned and operated. Each day after work the employees are expected to close down shop. That means shutting off lights and locking up doors; it also means throwing away linens that are too damaged to be used again.

Martin said she started noticing the company was throwing away 3-6 pounds of damaged linens every night.

“I figured there was a place we could use them,” said Martin.

After a few weeks of brainstorming, Martin went to her boss to ask permission to use the leftover scraps to make blankets to give to the homeless. The next morning, she was in for a surprise.

“I came to work the next day and my whole desk area was full of linens,” said Martin, “I had to make two trips to get everything home! They (the company) have been so helpful.”

Martin has handmade 10 blankets so far and has three more in the works. The blankets are donated to the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless.

Each blanket takes Martin hours to create, but she says every minute she spends on this project is more than worth it.

“I figure if you can spend a couple hours, make somebody’s day better, that can turn the world around if enough people do it,” she said.

Representatives for the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless have said that they are still short on blankets, coats, socks, underwear, backpacks, caps and gloves. You can make your donations at the organization’s main building in Tulsa.

To help Martin create the blankets or to drop off extra linens, message the Tulsa Parrot Heads on Facebook.