Sleep in Heavenly Peace seeks to make beds for kids in Maritimes

“No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.” That is the slogan for the non-profit international organization Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

The group is made up of volunteers nationwide who build bunkbeds for children aged three-to-17 who do not have a warm bed to sleep in. The organization’s website says there are many children in Canada who sleep on couches, blankets or just the floor, which can affect their happiness and health.

The registered charity expanded to Canada in 2018, and this past spring a chapter opened in Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B. It was the first location in the country east of Windsor, ON.

Co-president of the Saint John Chapter Ken Anthony says word of their arrival in the area has been slow rolling out, but they have already made numerous beds.

“That's what keeps you going,” says Anthony on the look on kids’ faces when they get their beds. “You spend a lot of time doing administrative stuff and trying to raise funds, trying to raise awareness, trying to get volunteers doing this and that and sometimes it’s a lot of work. Once you deliver a bed, that makes it all worthwhile.”

The beds can take as little as an hour to make (depending on how many people are working on them) and cost around $450 to build. Irving supplies the wood at a discount and community donations provide the mattresses, pillows, and blankets/sheets.

Co-founder for the Saint John Chapter Rob Cosman says he founded a charity called the Purple Heart Project in 2016. The project’s mission is to introduce physically and mentally combat-wounded veterans, to the peace and joy that can be found through traditional hand tool woodworking.

“Somewhere between 10 and 14 per cent of children in Canada in that age bracket (three-to-17) don't have a bed to sleep in,” says Cosman. “I have six girls and four boys so children have been a big part of my life. When you find out that that kind of suffering is around and you could do something about it, how do you not do something about it?”

A finished bunkbed frame is pictured. (Source: Avery MacRae/CTV News Atlantic)

Officials say they are always looking for help, especially on the fundraising side of things.

Al MacNeill is the building manager for the local chapter. He says sanding all the wood down to ensure children don’t get splinters is the longest part of the building process.

He says all the volunteers who have come and helped build beds are making an immense difference for children in the community.

“Delivering the beds is something that you'll never forget,” MacNeill says. “Seeing the faces and seeing the kids, I don't think I've seen kids smile that much for a toy. Their own bed at seven, eight years old, maybe the first bed they’ve ever slept in.”

The growing members of the Saint John chapter aren’t the main ones doing the bunkbed building.

Various groups have come for the construction process as a team building exercise, and a way to give back. Members from Help 4 Veterans based in Sussex recently made the drive down.

“We didn't realize there's a lot of children out there sleeping on the floor and there's a place here that builds beds,” says Bob Thomas. “We want to take a chapter to Sussex and build the beds up there for our children, but we have to find them.”

There are two Sleep in Heavenly Peace locations in Atlantic Canada as Moncton recently opened a chapter.