At first, Wayne Lehmann did not believe what the speaker was saying. Attending a presentation not far from his home in Watseka, Lehmann heard the man say there were dozens of children and teenagers in his community sleeping on floors because they didn’t have beds. Lehmann was shocked by the statement.
After the speech, he pressed the speaker for more information. The presenter, the volunteer head of a chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), a national not-for-profit organization, told him he was certain that there were kids without beds in the Watseka area.
Lehmann did his own research and discovered an estimated 3% of youth nationwide do not have beds. In talking to school officials in Iroquois and Vermillion counties, he learned the need might even be greater. “I talked to some schools, and they told me there are as many as 25% of their students who need a bed,” he says.
In response, Lehmann and other volunteers started their own chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace about three years ago to address the need. “Our objective is to discover the kids ages 3 to 17 who are without a bed and then fulfill that need,” he explains. “We build beds and supply not only the frame, but also the mattress, the blankets, the pillows, the whole thing. That way they go from the floor to the bed.”
True to what Lehmann first heard, there has been a need. “It might be surprising that in about three years, we have put out more than 200 beds,” Lehmann says. “It surprises a lot of people.”
Nationally, Sleep in Heavenly Peace started in 2012 and now has more than 350 volunteer chapters, including more than a dozen groups in Illinois.
It’s all about meeting basic needs, explains Diana Higgins of the La Harpe chapter, which serves about a 50-mile radius of the Hancock County community. “What we do is provide beds for kids — twin-size, bunk beds or whatever the family needs, and they get it all free of charge, delivered to their home, assembled and set up, ready to go,” she said. “The goal is to get kids off of the floor, off of pallets on the floor, out of sleeping in car seats or with mom and dad, on the couch, whatever. We want to give them a good night’s sleep so they can be more productive in their day.”
Higgins says she has been taken aback by the need. “We talked with some people in the K-12 school system who told us, ‘You guys have no idea. We have so many kids falling asleep in school because they don’t have their own bed.’”
Since getting their chapter rolling in 2021, Higgins and other volunteers have delivered 317 beds, with other youth in the region still waiting. She says the circumstances vary as to why children or teens do not have beds of their own. “We’ve delivered some to foster care situations, we’ve delivered to grandmas who have taken the kids in, we’ve delivered to women who have left domestic violence situations and took nothing with them. Plus, there are people who are just down on their luck.”
According to Sleep in Heavenly Peace, more than 5,200 kids across the country are waiting for beds. Since its launch, the organization has delivered more than 200,000. “It is humbling to think of the thousands of volunteers, donors and sponsors who have made this accomplishment possible. I still remember the smile on the face of the little girl who received the first SHP bed — a smile that has been duplicated 200,000 times,” Jordan Allen, executive director of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, shared in a press release. “Though we have a long way to go to end child bedlessness, this accomplishment tells me it is possible.”
To fulfill needs, chapters coordinate everything from applications and bed-building events to fundraising, inventory and delivery. Applications for beds are received through the organization’s website and distributed to local chapters, where volunteers work to meet the need.
“Being a nonprofit, we’re solely reliant on donations, whether that is people giving us pillows, money so we can buy mattresses or sponsoring a build so we can get lumber,” Higgins explains. “The average cost of a bed is $200.”
The beds — both twin beds and bunk beds — are wood, designed to be both easy to build and long-lasting. Each bed is branded with “SHP,” and all are treated with a vinegar-based solution that gives the wood some color and helps to repel insects. Mattresses are purchased by local chapters from the national organization through a partnership agreement with a mattress manufacturer.
Higgins says companies and organizations often sponsor large events where several beds are built at once. “We need volunteers, because when we have a bed build, we’ll build 30 beds,” Lehmann explains. “We need about 40 volunteers to do that. We also need volunteers to deliver and assemble the beds in kids’ homes.”
Often, civic organizations or work groups get involved in the bed-building events. Such was the case for a team member from Tri-County Electric Cooperative a year ago. “We were looking for something to do for National Co-op Month last October, and we found Sleep in Heavenly Peace to be a great way to serve our area,” explains Director of Member Services Lynn Hutchison.
She says a number of employees participated in a build for the Salem chapter, which covers Clinton, Jefferson and Marion counties. “We built 30 beds, and it was such a cool process,” she says. “They make it so easy. They show up with all of the materials, all of the tools, and you just work in an assembly line.”
The employees enjoyed participating in the build, and several even brought their own children to help. “I think any opportunity you can start off kids serving others early is good,” she says. “We all had a great time doing it; it was fun work and an opportunity to help other people. I feel like what we do every day is helping people, but this was different. It created a sense of community, and it was heartwarming to know that we were working together, and that there was going to be a child sleeping in this bed.”
In fact, Hutchison still has a scrap piece of lumber in her office from the build, branded with the SHP logo. “I look at it and remember that it was a great thing for our team … that we made a difference in the community,” she says.
“I love this mission,” Higgins says. “We are there for the kids. [We’re] providing them something that maybe they have never had and are giving them a chance to get a good night’s sleep so that they can do better in school.
“This is a way to help the community and show God’s love, to show that somebody else cares for these kids. We want to provide for them, and we’re not looking for anything, not even a thank you,” she adds.
Yet, the words of appreciation come, sometimes with tears. Higgins recalls delivering a bed to a teenager. “One of the most memorable deliveries I had was with a 16-year-old girl. Can you imagine being 16 and never having a bed before? She was very excited and so thankful, [and] I think she hugged me.”
Lehman says he has had the same experience. “We get a lot of gratitude. A lot of times, the kids want to get on the bed right away and start jumping up and down on [it] because they’re happy. We get hugs, handshakes and thank-you notes. It’s the things that we take for granted that delight these kids.” He adds that he has a growing collection of artwork from grateful children. “They draw out things, and they put ‘Thank you, SHP,’ on it or things like that. They won’t win any art contest, but they’ll win a heart contest.
“The other part that is very heartwarming is that we’ve been blessed in many ways by the community, who learns about this and wants to help — people who give us money, sheets, pillowcase sets and blankets. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a blanket yet because of the churches. Often, we hear from sewing groups who are more than happy to help. It’s just all over the place, and it’s great,” he adds.
He says through volunteers and donors, work will continue to fulfill the organization’s mission. “It’s in our slogan: ‘No kid sleeps on the floor in our town,’” he says.
To apply for a bed, donate or find a chapter in your area, visit shpbeds.org.
