'No kid sleeps on the floor in our town'
JAG middle schoolers build beds for kids without one
Pale whirls of saw dust filled the air. The steady, back and forth sound of wood being sanded was audible over the intermittent whine of band saws. And amid the commotion were Berea Community School middle schoolers enrolled in JAG (Jobs for America’s Graduates), building beds for kids who don’t have one.
It was the JAG program’s emphasis on community service that had brought the students together with a nonprofit organization founded to address the fact that roughly 3 million children in the US who do not have a bed of their own to sleep in, according to Cindy Thornsberry, co-president of the Richmond chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
“We build free beds for kids who don't have beds,” Thornsberry told The Edge. “Some of them are sleeping on the floor, some on air mattresses, some just sleep on the couch or with their parents. Some of them are sleeping on a pallet, which is a pile of clothes or blankets.”
Sleep in Heavenly Peace has about 400 chapters nationally, according to Thornsberry. The Richmond chapter serves Central Kentucky, from Lexington to Berea.
“We’ve delivered over 9,000 beds since 2020,” Thonsberry said of the Richmond chapter.
Lowe’s is one of the organization’s sponsors, offering discounts on supplies, and they accept donations for the bedding. All children who receive a bed also receive a comforter, a pillow, and sheets. The organization will deliver and set up the bed in the child’s home.
“No one is excluded. The only requirement is you don’t have a bed,” Thornsberry said.
“Last year we built 37 beds,” Nikki McHenry JAG instructor said of her middle school JAG participants. “We did some fundraising for it, too.”
Each bed costs about $500 to make, according to McHenry. JAG students helped collect donated bedding and contributions last year and are doing the same this year.
“It’s not a requirement. It’s suggested as part of the JAG criteria to be a part of the community,” McHenry said. “It teaches them skills, how to network, and to learn what resources are available to them.”
For more information or to donate, contact Sleep in Heavenly Peace in Richmond.