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TAMPA, Fla. — A group of Florida nurses are using their stitching skills in a whole new way to help the homeless, WFTS reports.

The sleeping bags are made of sterile wrap used to protect surgical instruments at Tampa General Hospital.

“I see all these sterile wrappers that we just throw away, so I thought, what a cool recycling initiative to help the homeless,” said Nicole Hubbard, a Nurse Anesthetist. “The beauty about it is they conserve heat and they’re waterproof.”

One major problem is they don’t have a sewing pattern.

That’s where nurses and sewing pros Lucy and Claudia came in.

“We sat down together and figured it out. They all come in different sizes…some of the larger ones are over 6 foot long and so they can be rolled down for comfort, rolled up to cover shoulders.”

RN Karley Wright sent out an internal email seeking help for the project.

“The response was overwhelming, and this is truly where one man’s trash becomes another man’s treasure,” Wright said.

So far, TGH has made 100 sterile wrap sleeping bags to be handed out to the homeless across Tampa Bay.

“This has just been far beyond our wildest imagination,” Wright said.

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