By The Watertown chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace is sponsoring a bed build on Saturday, September 28, and is need of volunteers to help.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a national charitable organization dedicated to building and delivering hand-made, fully furnished beds to children in need ages 3 to 17 years. Since its beginning in 2012, the organization has grown to include 370 local chapters in 48 states and four countries. There are eight chapters in South Dakota with Brookings, Aberdeen, Huron, Mitchell, Rapid City, Pierre, Sioux Falls joining Watertown. Nationally, Sleep in Heavenly peace recently delivered its 1 millionth bed to a needy child.
The groups motto is: “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.”
Saturday’s bed build in Watertown will produce 50 beds, which will then be delivered in Watertown and Northeast South Dakota.
Katie Stransky of Watertown began the local chapter in 2022, and 100 beds were built and delivered in that first year. The number of beds doubled in 2023 to 201with at least that many to be delivered this year. She said delivering beds to children in need has been a life-changing experience.
“When you go on a delivery, you just wouldn’t believe it,” she said. “One 17-year-old was sleeping on a rug, and the mother was sleeping on an air mattress. They had nothing. No furniture. He had a pair of jeans and two T-shirts, and that was it.”
She also told the story of a bed delivery to a 9-year-old girl. When Stransky took a large bag out of her car, the girls asked what it was. Stansky told her it was a pillow for her new bed, the girl said, “I’ve never had a pillow before.”
And there was the story of a second-grade boy was getting teased because his shirts were always wrinkled. The teacher bought a few clothes hangers and gave them to the boy so he could hang up his shirts and not teased. The boy said, “Oh, we have hangers at home. But I put my shirts on top of each other because it’s softer to sleep on that than the floor.”
Saturday’s bed build will take place at Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s rented workshop at 1415 26th St. SE. Volunteers are needed for four shifts: 8 to 10 a.m., 10 a.m. to noon, noon to 2 p.m., and 2 to 4 p.m. Volunteers can sign up for multiple shifts. Stransky said If a group, business or organization wants to sign up for a shift together, it can be a great team building opportunity.
A link to the registration page can be found on Watertown’s Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter Facebook page, or go to volunteer.shpbeds.org. Please sign up for the shift or shifts you would like and check in when you arrive to the shop. To donate, or for more information, contact Stransky at [email protected] or 605-520-0413.
Stransky and all Sleep in Heavenly Peace participants are volunteers.
