Company donates mattresses to The Haven Shelter

The Haven Shelter, which takes in homeless families in Idaho Falls, got a huge donation today. DownEast Home & Clothing donated 22 mattresses for families at the shelter.

Brandie Berry lives at The Haven with her children. She’ll soon be moving into a new home, and she’ll have brand new mattresses for her kids.

“It means that if we’re on the go, they have somewhere to sleep and lay,” she said. “And no matter where we are, they’ll have somewhere comfortable to be.”

Twenty-two twin sized mattresses and memory foam pillows were donated by DownEast Home and Clothing, a company based out of Salt Lake City. The mattresses fold up so they are able to be transported to different places easily.

“We found that just like food and water, sleep is required,” Bill Freedman, co-founder of DownEast, said. “And these kids deserve as great an opportunity as everyone else to succeed and to excel. And people think we’re crazy to give away a mattress because a mattress is a really expensive thing, but again, we can’t afford not to do this. The need is so great and we have the ability to do it so we’re gonna do it.”

The mattresses will be given to families in the shelter who have more kids than beds.

“We are either doing pack and plays or bringing in toddler mattresses or things like that,” Anne Johnson, manager of The Haven Shelter, said. “And now this way we can just have these for them to use and then take them when they move to their new place.”

Berry is thankful not only for the new mattresses, but for everything The Haven Shelter has done for her and her family.

“When we’re in desperate need, The Haven really pulls through,” she said. “They supply us with everything we need, Christmas, and help with anything. And to better our lives so that we don’t end up in these same circumstances.”

DownEast has donated 700 mattresses to those in need since early November.