Roughly 3 percent of children don’t have their own bed, according to Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) — a nonprofit working to solve this by providing beds to children.
In 2012 Luke Mickelson, founder of SHP, and his church group were building a bed for a family in need. On Christmas Eve of that same year, he built another bed with his family. From there, he built more and more beds which lead to him creating Sleep in Heavenly Peace. It’s based in Phoenix, Ariz.
“I didn't know how big that problem really was. And so from then, I built more beds, and the more I built, the more I realized that this is much bigger than just one guy that can solve that,” Mickelson said.
The Reno chapter was founded in 2020 and has helped 76 families so far. It’s one of 300 chapters across the country.
Angie Mahaiuddin became the chapter president in July of last year. Earlier this month, she hosted the first annual SHP gala in Reno. She raised enough to cover the cost of 30 beds, but that doesn’t begin to cover the need.
“We have delivered only to 10 families. The amount of families is small, but these beds mean a lot for them, and we have over 270 applications on the waiting list,” she said.
Families can apply to receive a bed at SHPbeds.org. Once a family is accepted, they will receive a call from SHP. The organization will not ask for payment or for a person’s job status. But they do require every family to have a permanent residence and allow volunteers to build the bed at their home.
Mahaiuddin encourages the community to help in any way they can. She plans to expand the chapter to the surrounding area, but will need a lot of help to do so. Volunteer opportunities can also be found on their website and by searching by zip code.
