New nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace working so ‘no kid sleeps in the floor’ in Linn County

MARION - Beds for children residing in Linn County are waiting to be built and delivered inside a warehouse on 999 35th St. as part of one organization's mission to ensure that 'no kid sleeps on the floor in our town.”

White matresses wrapped in plastic lined the walls of the warehouse that the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace now inhabits. Off to the side, pieces of lumber sit unassembled. Shelves are partially stocked with sheets and other bedding materials.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace brings all those materials together to make beds for children in the area ages 3 through 17 who are currently without beds to sleep in.

There are no financial requirements to receive the free beds, so as long as a child does not have a bed, the family can request one through Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

'We're going to make sure that's not happening around here,” Gretchen Holley, the president of the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, recalled thinking when she decided to launch the organization here.

Holley was the driving force behind bringing the organization to the Cedar Rapids-Marion area.

She said she had just recently graduated her last child, and thought, 'What's next? I don't want to waste my days.”

The group's first chapter sprang up in Idaho around 2012, Holley said. It started with building one bed for a single family and there was wood left over from that project.

Word spread on Facebook about the opportunity for another family to benefit from that extra wood. From there, it grew into a full-fledged not-for-profit organization.

Local businesses have offered Holley a deal on items such as mattresses and she has received donations of bedding and tools, she said, to give her chapter a kickstart.

More than 40 beds were built in six hours by the end of the first build event in eastern Iowa at the organization's warehouse.

Holley said there are more bed requests to be filled than beds already made, but she hopes to soon offer build events at least every other month to work toward addressing that need.

Holley said she communicated with local social workers to spread the word about the opportunity for people to request beds. Social media is also used to let people know about the organization.

The warehouse remains set up with a variety of work stations, ready to be used for future build events. A sign is posted next to each one describing the station's purpose and what part of the bed-building process is to be completed there.

No experience is needed to volunteer, Holley said, as there are a variety of tasks people can get involved in.

A variety of local organizations and businesses helped and more have expressed an interest in supporting Sleep in Heavenly Peace's cause, some of which helped at that first event.

Mercy Medical Center, Mount Mercy University and the Catherine McAuley Center partnered up and helped in the first bed-building event as part of a day-long 'Circle the City with Mercy” service project July 20.

The event was the first 'Circle the City with Mercy” project, said Sister Linda Bechen, the vice president of mission and ministry at Mount Mercy University.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace's mission fits with Mount Mercy's critical concerns, or areas in which the university focuses its services, which include women and children, she said.

'A bed is a basic need that if children have the adequate sleep that they need they can be successful in school, they can play well,” she said. 'It's just so essential to their ongoing health.”

Bechen said she thinks the event provided insight for people to realize that not all children have beds and gave people the opportunity to provide them to children in need.

'It's so basic that you don't think children not having that basic need,” she said.

That's precisely why Holley said she is doing the work she's doing to get the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace up and running.

'It's a hidden need,” she said. ' … I think most adults that are living comfortably would go, ‘That's just wrong. We need to do something about that.'”

More information

' What: Sleep in Heavenly Peace Cedar Rapids-Marion Chapter

' Contact: Gretchen Holley, (844) 432-2337 Ext. 5501; gretchen.holley@shpbeds.org

' Information: www.facebook.com/pg/SHPcedarrapidsmarion/about/?ref=page_internal; www.shpbeds.org