In a moment of satisfaction after my colleagues delivered our 941st free bed, I thought about my North Country roots. Imagine the good we could do for needy children if Sleep In Heavenly Peace had a working chapter in St. Lawrence County.
So I let my mind wander. I imagined a startup chapter would be strategically centered in the Route 11 corridor between Potsdam, population of about 16,000, and Canton, about 10,000 people. That represents about one-fourth of the SLC population of nearly 108,000.
Then I did a little dumpster diving and fact checking on the Internet. The SLC poverty rate is 18.9 percent, exceeding the national average of 11.5 percent. An impoverished family of four lives off less than $31,200 annually. When you examine the U.S. Census numbers, you learn that 25 percent of the county population is ages 19-and-under. That’s a lot of children.
Yeah, there has got to be a need.
I know from experience. I’ve volunteered with the Rochester chapter of Sleep In Heavenly Peace for four-plus years. I’ve seen the joy on children’s faces when we deliver a 75-inch, wooden-frame bed complete with mattress, pillow, comforter and bedding. The smiles, hugs and elation would melt your heart.
In many cases, children have been sleeping on a mattress, couch, or in drastic cases, a pile of clothes. When you must choose between food and home comforts, it’s an easy choice.
So here is my impromptu classified ad:
WANTED – Community-minded individuals with a deep sense of kindness, charity and service wanted to start and run a SLC chapter of Sleep In Heavenly Peace. Candidates will have capacities for elementary woodworking, directing volunteers and organizing databases of volunteers and recipients.
My dream would be that a Lions Club or church congregation or parents club or retired contractor would take it upon themselves to form a chapter. My friends in Rochester, Shawn and Donna Ritchie, were inspired by their adult daughter.
“We were having a conversation at dinner one night about kids in need,’’ Donna recalled. “Megan mentioned she had friends in Michigan who did this thing — building beds for kids. We were new empty-nesters so we had a little time on our hands. We thought that meant we’d have time to do some winetasting in the Finger Lakes. Instead, we started building and delivering beds to kids.’’
The spirit of charity took over. The Ritchies recruited friends from church and work. Donna asked her boss, my wife Mary, if we could contribute 2 hours on a Saturday. I went grudgingly; we stayed for 6 hours.
It has become a staple of our volunteering. Once a month, we are sanding lumber, driving screws into headboards and siderails, drilling, boring and branding wood, and assembling bed kits. Sawdust is only surpassed by the camaraderie among the volunteers.
If St. Lawrence County opens a chapter, Shawn listed attributes that would make a good president:
- Knowing every job – Funding, recruitment, organizational policy, purchasing, bed building and delivery. “If a job doesn’t get down, ultimately you have to know it’s your responsibility, not someone else.’’
- Prioritizing – “Sometimes the tasks are small and handled easily, but many require delegation. You have to identify, recruit and form great teams of people around you to help lead.’’
- Access and develop talent of volunteers.
- Be a good listener and be open to new ideas.
- Have a thick skin – “You can’t let every hiccup take your eyes off your major goals.”
He saved the most important for last.
“If possible, have a spouse as co-president who works twice as hard, puts in 3 times the amount of time you do, and covers 90 percent of the key responsibilities required of the president.’’
Don’t let all those duties spook you. The national organization trains and supports chapters. Each chapter chooses which zip codes they will serve, making sure not to overlap with a neighboring chapter.
More than 370 chapters have been established across the nation, Canada and Bermuda since an Idaho churchgoer offered one free bed to a family in his congregation in 2012, then was overwhelmed by the need. SHP has given away more than 200,000 beds. The website is https://shpbeds.org/
Once you catch the volunteer spirit, it is easy to be hooked. I recruited my neighbor Dave Sedita, a retired production manager at an auto components factory. Soon, he brought his wife, Paula.
“The first build that I participated in was indoors,’’ remembered Dave. “All the noise, all the dust and all of the confusion made me wonder what I was doing there. Then a couple weeks later we delivered and assembled the beds. The absolute joy on the children’s faces with those huge smiles and the tears of happiness and gratitude in the mother’s eyes told me why I was there. It sealed the deal for me, took away all doubts.’’
Donna has been struck by the depth of the volunteer spirit. She has recruited high school students, sports teams, scouting troops, church congregations, businesses and firefighters.
One of her favorite memories was a delivery when a 10-year-old boy helped to assemble his bed.
“We taught him how to use a drill driver and he was really into it,’’ she said. “Then he said, ‘I literally just made my own bed!’ It cracked me up. So funny and such a quick wit.’’
So I continue to wonder if we can find a Donna and Shawn Ritchie in St. Lawrence County?
Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester, and an active bed builder. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/
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