Sleep in Heavenly Peace bed-builders raise ‘dust storm’ of caring at Redmond Fairgrounds, top their 100-bed goal

(Update: Adding day's final tally; 130 beds built)

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- How much sawdust can 135 volunteers make while building beds for kids who don't have one? Quite a bit!

Sawdust was heavy in the air Saturday at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds and Event Center as volunteer employees from Home Depot and TDS Telecom joined community members with the goal of building 100 beds in a day for a nonprofit called Sleep In Heavenly Peace.

Home Depot, TDS and the fairgrounds donated $30,000 worth of wood, tools and space for the event.

The Expo Center donated the build space, Home Depot provided the lumber needed to build the beds and TDS Broadband donated the twin mattresses for the beds. 

SHP provides a twin bed, mattress and set of sheets to families that have children sleeping on the floor or in beds with siblings.

Central Oregon SHP Chapter President Joe Myers explained how kids get new beds from the organization.

"Families reach out, we give them a hand up," he said. "I bring in a bed, mattress and all the bedding they need."

Since starting the Central Oregon chapter in 2020, Sleep in Heavenly Peace has created almost 700 new beds here for kids in need.

Luke Mickelson founded the nonprofit in 2012, and since then, Sleep in Heavenly Peace has built over 100,000 beds in 330 chapters around the country, with the objective of: “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town!”

Mickelson says he initially got the idea to start the nonprofit after finding out not all kids have beds.

"I mean, every child has a bed, right?" he thought. "Once I learned that they don't, and once I learned some of these conditions that kids are sleeping in, and I can solve that problem or participate in solving that problem for them -- it's changed my life."

Myers was once a deputy for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. SHP is much like his previous career, because it's, in his own words, about putting service before self: "This was a way for me to serve and give back to the community, and really give people a hand up -- not a hand out, but a hand up."

Mickelson says kids or teens who received beds from SHP are now among those same volunteers helping others,

"Today, we even have people who have received beds from us, helping build beds for the next person," he said.

Another recent milestone for the charity is that they have made their first delivery to families on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. 

Myers says he believes supplying kids with beds does more for them than just giving them a place to sleep. "It helps with their schoolwork, it helps with their interpersonal relationships, it helps with anxiety and depression and all these other things."

"Imagine being a child without a bed and asking your friend to come over," he said. "Their growth plates have a chance to do better and be healthy, their cells actually rejuvenate at night and heal themselves while their sleeping."

But kids aren't the only ones grateful for these adults building beds. One volunteer, as they were leaving, said to Mickelson, "Thanks for putting this on, paying it forward -- I like when you said that!"

Mickelson replied with a simple, "Thanks for helping out! Amen, brother, amen!"

Mickelson promises that helping to make a bed will not only change a child's life, but adults in the community who help out as well.

"They need all the help they can get, both with building and delivering these beds," he said. "It'll change your life, I promise.

But the focus, as always, is on the kids getting a good place to sleep, and dream.

"So without a good bed and a comfortable bed and a good night's sleep, it really affects these kids physically and mentally, and we're after making that better."

Myers told us Saturday night of the end result:

"It was amazing!" he said. "The Central Oregon army of volunteers built beds at a blistering pace, completing one bed every 45 seconds. The day's total was 130 beds built," nearly one-third past their 100-bed goal.

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. He says he's 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 http://shpbeds.org/chapter/or-Deschutes-co for more information.