Hammers and saws will be flying on Saturday, April 1 at the Deschutes Co. Fairgrounds and Expo Center as volunteers with Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) build 100 beds for children who do not have a bed of their own. And the founder and national president of SHP will be on hand for the event, which starts at 9:30 am and will continue until all the beds are built.
Luke Mickelson founded SHP 10 years ago in his garage making a bunkbed for a family in need in his church. From that humble beginning, Luke has grown SHP to a national organization with over 300 chapters which have delivered over 150,000 beds coast to coast,
The Expo center is donating the build space, Home Depot is donating the lumber needed to build the beds and TDS Broadband is donating the twin mattresses that will go with the beds.
“We are so thrilled that these three organizations have joined us, contributing about $30,000 is products and services,“ says Joe Myers, president of the Central Oregon SHP chapter. “This will be our biggest build ever,” he says. “Our goal for 2023 is to build 600 beds, more than double the number we built in 2022.”
Another milestone for the charity is that they have made their first delivery to families on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
SHP provides a twin bed, mattress and set of sheets to families that have children sleeping on the floor or in beds with siblings.
Mickelson also has started a disaster relief program within SHP that has stockpiles of beds, ready to deliver in the case of a disaster, like fire or flood. Mickelson is proud of the fact that SHP’s growth has been with an all volunteer staff. All donations made to SHP are used to buy the materials necessary to make the beds for children in need.
Potential build volunteers, and families interested in receiving a bed, can go to shpbeds.org for more information.
