Laborers of Love: Organization making sure no child has to sleep on the floor
One organization is making sure no child has to sleep on the floor.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a non-profit organization that builds hand-crafted bunk beds solely by volunteers. They then deliver them to kids who do not have beds. With a motto like theirs, they get closer to that goal each day.
“Our motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town,” Levi Shaffer said.
He is the president of the Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter in Rexburg. Last week, the new chapter delivered its first bunk beds to kids in Pocatello. Six kids now have a bed to sleep on.
The organization was founded in 2012 in the small town of Kimberly, Idaho.
Overtime, SHP expanded to Boise, Lehi, Utah, San Diego, California and now Rexburg!
“Over 600 bunk beds have been built,” Shaffer said. “During our build days, during 5 hours, we are able to build, on average, 20 bunk beds. So that’s 40 kids that are no longer sleeping on the floor and have a bed to call their own.”
SHP founder Luke Mickelson said this all started as a service project for a friend. After the project, he was left with extra pieces of wood and decided to find someone else who was in need of a bed.
“What was interesting is we decided to put it on Facebook and just see who might want a bunk bed and if anybody knew someone. What we found out was something quite opposite of what we expected, where everybody wanted a bunk bed. We found more people wanted to help and donate and the next thing we knew, we had pillows and mattresses and sheets and all sorts of stuff,” Mickelson said.
Shaffer loves seeing the expressions on the kids’ faces when they receive one of the bunk beds.
“A lot of gratitude and thankfulness for the gift. This is the first time that they’ve had a bed to sleep in and to call their own, to be safe and don’t have to sleep on the floor or on a couch,” Shaffer said.
The chapter is working to make a build day for next month. Anyone ages 10 and up can volunteer to build a bed. No experience is required.
If you would like to donate, volunteer or a request a bed, click here.
