Over 100 volunteers helped make beds for kids in Kosciusko County Saturday as part of the Kosciusko County chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s (SHP) first public build.
Volunteers in two shifts put together twin bed frames in the parking lot at Warsaw Community Church.
Becky Kiphart, president of the chapter, said, “We heard that beds are (needed) because (children) are sleeping on the floor, or on couches or uncomfortable situations and we just couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe there was a need for that.”
Kiphart then found Sleep in Heavenly Peace and started the Kosciusko County chapter.
There is an application form on SHP’s website people can fill out to receive the beds. The frames are delivered with sheets, pillows and a comforter “and when we leave, a child has their own bed.”
All the beds can also be turned in to bunks, so SHP can deliver single beds or bunk beds. The beds are free of charge. SHP serves children between the ages of 3 and 17.
Kiphart said, stastically, over 2,000 children are in need of beds in Kosciusko County. About 20 beds were planned on being built Saturday. SHP is scheduling two or three builds for each month, with 20 beds planned on being built at each event.
Not all of the builds are planned at one place.
“We are a totally operation, so we bring the build to you. So whoever wants to host a build - we do have some corporations that have offered to host the build. They also fund the build, because we have to purchase the lumber and the mattresses and things like that,” Kiphart said, noting Saturday’s build was hosted by WCC.
Greg Demopoulos, WCC pastor of outreach and engagement, said he knows Kiphart and one of the things WCC has been trying to do is figure out what are the needs in the community.
“... We work with a group called Hands of Hope and we utilize a tool called CarePortal and CarePortal allows the schools and DCS (Department of Child Services) to put needs on it and it gets sent out to churches and organizations in the community to help those needs. And one of the things that came up through the CarePortal when we first got started with it, there were numerous requests for beds,” Demopoulos said.
That need is what sparked Kiphart to find SHP.
“And she was like, ‘This is heartbreaking that there are children in our community who don’t have beds.’ And she reached out to me and she said, ‘Would you mind if I did some research to see if there’s a way we can build beds or find a way to meet this need?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And so she found Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and some conversations with her encouraged them to start a local chapter in Kosciusko County,” Demopoulos said.
Once they went through that process and figured everything out,” WCC was wanting to jump right in to help.
Demopoulos said WCC also encouraged people in the church to help, as well as people who owned businesses who attended WCC to sponsor other builds.
Kiphart said SHP wants to get kids off the floor.
Stastically, “it is amazing at what has been brought back,” she said. “Teachers are saying if a child doesn’t have a good night’s sleep, they don’t have concentration and that will affect their behavior, their learning, their home life, all kinds of things.”
Demopoulos said he hopes Saturday’s event helps volunteers realize the build is just the first step.
“We appreciate that they came out to do this, but this allows people to be aware of needs in the community. The fact that you’re putting this bed together, the fact it’s estimated there’s 2,000 kids in Kosciusko County that don’t have a bed, that raises awareness for that need. And we believe, based on our faith that we’re called on to love our neighbors, so we want people to take those steps to do that. So I just want people to enjoy what they’re doing today, but to look for that next step to take as well,” Demopoulos said.
If anyone is interested in volunteering, they can visit SHP’s website at https://shpbeds.org/chapter/in-kosciusko/.