Making a Difference: Sleep in Heavenly Peace is committed to building beds for children in need
Kelsey Merison
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — At KTVZ News, we focus our resources on bolstering the health and well-being of Central Oregon’s youth—through our 21 Cares for Kids partnerships.
This month we’re spotlighting Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit organization committed to building beds for children in need.
“Our end mission is to get kids in beds who don’t have beds, that are sleeping on the floor or on couches,” said Joseph Myers, the chapter president.
Joseph Myers
Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) is a national organization but the Central Oregon chapter started making a difference in our community in 2020.
“In a lot of cases, these kids are 6, 7, 8 years old and they’ve never had a bed. So this is the first thing that they’ve been able to call their very own,” said Myers.
Since its start 5 years ago, its built and donated around 2,000 beds for children in need right here in Central Oregon.
Bed build in Central Oregon
“These are wonderful people that just need a hand up. And that’s why SHP plays such an important part in their life and an important part in the community,” Myers said.
But the nonprofit organization needs your help.
“With everything that’s going on right now, with the economy and things being a little unsure, a lot of our donors have pulled back a little bit. So we certainly need donations. We could use help from the community by donating. They can go to shpbeds.org/chapter/or-deschutes-co/ and there will be a donate button,” Myers said. “That money stays here in Central Oregon. We do pay a small percentage to the corporate office that covers our filing fees for the IRS and attorneys and insurance and things like that. But one of the things we’re so proud of is…97% of all of our donations go directly to the mission of supplying beds to children. So we only have a 3% operating cost, which is extremely low for nonprofit.”
Besides monetary donations, SHP has been without a space to store materials and build these beds for nearly a year and is looking for someone (or somewhere) in the community to assist.
“When we have a build, we have to pull everything out of the storage units, put them in a rental truck, drive it to the build area, then after the build, put everything back away. And those make really long days,” Myers said. “So it would really be nice to have a building that we’re able to have our things stored, be able to conduct a small build. And we’re just kind of hoping that someone here in Central Oregon will come through for us.”
Joseph shared a heartwarming memory of a bed delivery to express what this mission means to the children it serves.
“We were putting the bed together and this little boy… He said something about how much it costs. And I said, you know, ‘It’s okay. We do this out of love and because we want to help.’ And he opened up his little wallet and he had a five dollar bill and a one dollar bill. He pulled out the five and he said, ‘Here, I want to help another child too,’” Myers reflected. “I turned to his grandma and I was kind of taken back because it’s the first time something like that has happened. And grandma said it was his birthday yesterday and that was the $5 she gave him for his birthday.”
It’s clear Sleep in Heavenly Peace has made a profound impact on Central Oregon.
To learn more about the organization, or to find out how you can get involved, click here.
Click here to learn more about KTVZ’s 21 Cares for Kids partnerships.