ADRIAN — For most children, having their own comfortable, safe bed to sleep in is something they can take for granted. But if a family is in need — perhaps they’re in transitional housing, or they’ve lost their household goods in a fire or other disaster, or beds are an expense they can’t afford given other needs, like putting food on the table — nighttime for those kids means sharing a bed or even sleeping on the floor.
The non-profit group Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which builds twin-size beds for children in need, wants to change that in Lenawee County. First, its Monroe County chapter introduced itself to Lenawee last year with a “bed build” done in conjunction with the LISD Tech Center. Next, a new Lenawee chapter will be up and running by late spring or early summer.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace was founded in 2012 by Luke Mickelson in Twin Falls, Idaho. It was Christmastime, and when he heard about a child who needed a bed he and some friends got together, went to Lowe’s to get the supplies, and built one.
Since then, according to Tim Taylor, who heads the Monroe County chapter, the organization has expanded to 444 chapters across the U.S., Canada, and in Bermuda, and at last count has delivered some 343,000 beds to children at a current pace of nearly 75,000 a year.
“It’s an amazing organization,” Taylor said.
Taylor got involved with Sleep in Heavenly Peace after seeing firsthand what a child’s not having a bed can do. As an EMT, he responded to an apartment where a family of five was living. All the family members were sleeping on air mattresses — and when one of the mattresses deflated, the child sleeping on it died of suffocation.
“When you lose a child like that, it doesn’t make the news … but this is a family that went through a tragedy,” he said. “It was such a preventable, needless death. I want to help that not happen to any other family.”
Even without such a shattering event happening, “bedlessness is an undiscussed trauma,” Taylor’s wife, Megan, who serves as the Monroe chapter’s delivery coordinator and family liaison, said.
“For a child, it’s not just a bed. It’s building their self-esteem.”
And for many families in need, the cost of a bed, which on the low end could be four to five hundred dollars for the bed and bedding, is too much. “Bed or food? Bed or keeping the lights on?” Megan said.
For many of the children the Monroe chapter serves, “the kids are 6, 8, 10 years old and it’s the first bed they ever had. … There isn’t a better joy than when you see these kids’ faces,” Tim added.
The seeds of the planned Lenawee County chapter were planted last June when Tim began working with the United Way of Monroe/Lenawee Counties, the Community Action Agency, and Chris Howard of the Lenawee Intermediate School District to find out how to serve this area.
Then, Tim heard from Pastor Joel Sarrault of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Adrian. Sarrault had been involved with Sleep in Heavenly Peace elsewhere and wanted to help, and the end result was that two of his parishioners, Keith and Brenda Hill, became the point people for SHP locally.
“They’re committed to opening the chapter here,” Tim said of the couple, and once volunteers are trained the chapter will be operational, probably by May or June.
“So it started out with a conversation about serving the county, and in less than a year, we’re going to have a full chapter here.”
Families in need of beds for their children can go online to www.shpbeds.org — or other people can do it for them if they lack internet capability — and there apply for a bed from their closest chapter. Locally, the Monroe chapter will continue to handle requests until the Lenawee chapter is operational.
The only questions asked have to do with the number of children, their ages, and their sleeping conditions. When beds are built and available, Megan works to get the necessary bedding — even tailoring it to each child’s interests — and coordinates the delivery, assembling the beds in the home.
“I love seeing the kids when they jump into that bed,” Tim said. “It’s probably the first time they’ve ever had a new bed, mattress, pillow, and bedding.”
After that, the families can reach out to Megan if there are needs to be met.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace relies on monetary and other donations and the work of volunteers to assemble the beds. No particular experience with tools is needed to participate in a bed build.
Information on upcoming builds or on donating can be found by connecting with the local chapter through shpbeds.org or Facebook. Until the Lenawee chapter opens, the Monroe chapter is at facebook.com/SHPMonroeCoMI.
