Twenty-four beds have been delivered to children in the community and 17 local children are still waiting for beds. You can help meet this need.
Kaycee Hendrix is over the Polk County Chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) and presented a program to the Rotary Club of Livingston Thursday.
SHP is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit that serves children in need. It is a volunteer-driven organization with 100% of its donations going toward building children’s beds. ‘No kid sleeps on the floor in our town’ is the organization’s motto.
Hendrix first discovered the organization in Tyler County and knew immediately that there was a need for it in Polk County. She said she went to Woodville and volunteered with them for a year before establishing a chapter in Polk County.
She asked her friend, Kim Brown Jernigan, to join her and the two went through training and then started building beds.
The beds are built from scratch and built to last a lifetime. No experience is needed, as the builds follow SHP’s simple and easy to follow bed design and require no previous woodworking experience. Each bed is delivered and assembled to an appreciative home, complete with mattresses, pillows and bedding.
SHP and its partner organizations schedule events called “Build Days” where volunteers come together to build the beds. Inexperienced volunteers are trained and supervised by experienced ones. All power tools are provided.
Hendrix said the Polk County Chapter holds its Build Days the third Saturday of each month at 8:30 a.m. at Economy Portable Buildings out Hwy. 190 West and that anyone who is interested is encouraged to come out.
She said the beds are actually assembled in the home and upon completion, they let the child pick out their bedding.
Hendrix said that Red Barn has been very cooperative helping the organization with lumber and that both Owen Furniture and Pedigo Furniture have helped them with mattresses. She said the average bed is $250 and they normally do about 10 on a build day.
There is a vetting process to receive a bed and Brenda Holden serves as the intake manager. For more information, go to shpbeds.org.
