A good night’s sleep

Organization building beds for kids who are sleeping on the floor

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BROOKINGS – If you knew a child was sleeping on the floor, what would you do? Dave Miller decided to start a local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s mission is simple: make “very basic” beds from raw lumber and donate them to kids who don’t have a bed. The organization started in Idaho and has spread across the nation in just a few years.

“Their slogan is – I just love it – ‘No kid sleeps on the floor in our town,’” Miller said.

The need

Miller learned about the crisis of kids not having beds when he watched a Facebook show called “Returning the Favor” by Mike Rowe (of “Dirty Jobs” fame). Rowe finds people doing good things for others and, in this case, made it possible for a chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace to get a new, safe building and free rent to continue their work. 

“I saw that show, and it just instantly tugged at my heartstrings,” Miller said. 

He found that Sleep in Heavenly Peace was started by accident in Twin Falls, Idaho. It was Christmas time in 2011 and Luke Mickelson’s kids were complaining, so he had them head for the garage.

“They just wanted to build something together and bless somebody else and give it away,” Miller said.

What they built was a set of bunk beds and posted a notice online, saying anybody who needed a bed could come and get it.

“He was amazed by the response that he got,” Miller said. “He really didn’t know that need was there.”

Mickelson decided to keep building beds and started Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which has grown to 49 chapters nationally.

Mickelson’s been building in the Twin Falls area since 2011 “and the need is still there. It’s a town of about 40,000, similar to Brookings, and we have been training people to come in and build. Every time we have training, there’s still more beds to be built and be delivered out there,” Miller said.

The first delivery Miller made was in Idaho to kids 2 and 3 years old.

“And the 3-year-old, three different times, said, ‘Is this mine? Is this mine?’” Miller recalled. “And they truly were sleeping on the floor. (It was) the first time they’d had a bed.”

Another delivery to kids who had just been homeless has stayed with Miller.

“The one little 8-year-old climbs up in the top bunk … he crawls under the covers and wraps himself up (in the blankets) and he says, ‘I think I’m gonna stay here all day.’ It just touched me,” Miller said.

“This is a problem that you don’t solve it; it doesn’t go away. It just keeps re-occurring,” Miller said.

Close to home

Miller soon realized it was happening in Brookings, too.

Children wind up sleeping on the floor for all sorts of reasons: house fires, fleeing an abusive situation with nothing, single-parent households, bad decisions, frequent moves, both parents are working but a medical crisis hits, and a multitude of other reasons.

Brookings County Sheriff Marty Stanwick invited Miller to a meeting with organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army, all of which see people in all kinds of stressful situations and kids struggling with challenges at home. A woman told him she knew of 20 kids who were sleeping on the floor.

“Until I got plugged into people in the Brookings area that reach out and help the people in need, I had no idea how vast the need was,” Miller said. 

“Having a good night’s sleep is just critical,” he said. “I’m amazed, frustrated and angry about the situation.” 

Doing something

Miller sent for information, filled out a form and went through the training to start a chapter in Brookings. 

“So we are now Chapter No. 34 in the country,” said Miller, who is president of the Brookings chapter. 

“There’s probably 10 people in the core leadership team; just a spectacular crew,” he said. “It’s all volunteers, even the people that run it.”

To find out where their help is needed, they take requests for beds. Just go to shpbeds.org and there’s a tab to request a twin bed and an information sheet to fill out.

“There’s no stipulations for qualifications for this. It’s not an income-based thing,” Miller said.

Requests will be forwarded to him.

“Then we go through those and prioritize – that’s the hard part, try to prioritize – who gets beds first,” Miller said.

Building up

Of course, those twin beds have to be made, and that takes a lot of people. The local chapter has taken a two-pronged approach: event builds and a permanent workshop.

They had a bed build last Saturday in Lowe’s parking lot. More than 50 volunteers showed up to build 24 beds in just over three hours. They will start delivering the beds this week.

“I really need to give a big shout-out to Lowe’s,” Miller said. “They donated a bunch of tools to us. They also provided all the materials for this first build.”

In spite of the good turnout and production, Miller knows it won’t be enough.

“The need is real,” he said. “My e-mail started popping: I got 11 bed requests just last (week). Got two more (Monday), so the 24 beds that we built, most of them are already spoken for and we’re just getting started.”

Needs more help

Miller plans to have more build days and he’s hoping folks line up.

“Our hope is that we will find other businesses or organizations that want to help sponsor a build day,” he said.

To sponsor a twin-sized bed, it costs $150 a bed; $300 per bunk set.

“So if an organization wanted to build 10 bunks, if they’d raise $3,000, we’d show up at their place,” Miller said.

Just pick a date and have the employees – or random volunteers – show up and start building.

“It’s a great way to bring the community together or employees together for a great cause,” Miller said. “My hope is that we’ll get youth groups, community organizations, mentoring programs, sports teams, whoever, that says ‘I’d like to be a part of that.’”

Anybody, no matter what skill level, can help out, Miller assured.

“It’s very basic when you build it. There’s no expertise needed,” he said.

The wood comes in 2x4s, 2x6s and 1x6s, in 8- and 10-foot lengths. Those pieces are cut to size.

“Then from there, it goes to what we call a stamping station where we mark where the holes get drilled. Then it goes to our drill press. All the holes are pre-drilled for that,” Miller said.

“At the sanding station, they sand them all smooth. Then it goes to assembly, where they put the headboards together.

“The last station is the staining. They actually take the headboard, all pre-assembled, dip it down into a big tank and stain it all in one shot. It’s all very quick, easy,” Miller said.

If anyone has a few spare hours and wants to help out, they can come to the workshop.

“Paul Moriarty is an amazing guy,” Miller said.

Moriarty donated space at 706 Main Ave. S. for SHP to use for smaller builds.

Miller said a group of Daktronics employees planned to come in Monday night.

“They raised $450; that’s enough for three beds,” Miller said.

He heard from one person who was organizing a family reunion and wanted the relatives to have a productive activity.

Runs on donations

All the labor is volunteer, and all the products come from donations. Money buys the mattresses. 

“We have specific mattresses that we use,” Miller said, adding that Basin Electric bought a whole pallet of mattresses, but those are already spoken for, so they need more.

Quilts, pillows and bedding are included with the bed.  

“A gal came to one of our Tuesday night meetings … The story just really touched her soul. The next morning, she called me (and) said, ‘I’ve been at Penney’s and found a sale on sheets,’ and she bought 60 sets of sheets for us,” Miller said.

“We’ve had many quilting ladies reach out to us and say they want to help with this,” he said.

“I had this sweet little old lady say, ‘I can’t help build or anything, but I’d love to make cookies for you,’ so she made 12 dozen cookies for us for our build on Saturday,” he said with a laugh. “They were very much appreciated.”

Their biggest need is financial support, but they could also use an enclosed trailer for deliveries. Right now, they’re using four different vehicles and trailers to haul beds and mattresses. 

To help, go to shpbeds.org and click on the tabs to donate.

Miller said they’ll continue to help because the need is there.

The help they give comes back around from grateful people.

“Nothing, nothing has touched my soul like this project,” Miller said. “For me, the bottom line is it’s about the kids.”

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.

Courtesy photo: A group of volunteers gather in Lowe’s parking lot to make beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national organization with a chapter in Brookings. They make and deliver beds to children who don’t have them, many of whom are sleeping on the floor. More than 50 volunteers showed up to build 24 twin beds, like the bunk beds in the foreground, out of basic supplies in just over three hours. They will start delivering the beds this week, said Chapter President Dave Miller.