Sleep in Heavenly Peace helps kids rest easy
Wayne Sherry serves as co-president of the Vernon County chapter. (Photos used with permission from Sleep in Heavenly Peace Vernon County).
A look at a public build event conducted by Sleep in Heavenly Peace in September of 2023. The Vernon County chapter has made, delivered and assembled more than 160 beds since the summer of 2022.
By Steve Van Kooten
“Nobody sleeps on the floor in our town.”
That’s the mission statement of Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), a national nonprofit organization that builds beds for children in need.
SHP first started in Idaho in 2012. More than a decade later, there are approximately 325 chapters across the nation. One of those chapters started in Viroqua during the summer of 2022 and serves an area that goes as far south as Soldiers Grove.
Wayne Sherry, co-president of the Vernon County chapter, first learned about SHP while reading an article, which also included a questionnaire that he called a “kind of a vetting process.”
Wayne and his wife Karen, along with their friends Marilyn Kile, also co-president of the Viroqua chapter, and her husband, went to visit a public build event in Marshfield, where community members help make the beds. Nearly 70 volunteers helped prepared materials and delivered beds that day.
The Sherrys and Kiles also helped deliver a bed to one of the families.
“The room was filled with black garbage bags,” Wayne Sherry said. “That’s where they stored all of their stuff... Over in the corner [there] was a blanket thing on the floor and a pillow, and that’s where this little 12-year-old girl slept.
“We assembled the bed and then we left. We did exactly what they told us to do. We don’t ask questions; if they talk to you, be pleasant, but you’re not there to question or to judge anything.
“When we left there, Karen and I said to each other, ‘We’ve got to do this.’ It was an incredible experience. That little girl had a new bed, sheets, blankets and a quilt.”
“When you go on a deliver, your heart is never the same,” Karen Sherry said.
The Sherrys and the Kiles attended a two-day training session in Utah to pursue their own chapter for the Viroqua area.
“The training was intense. There was a lot of book work,” Wayne said.
Each chapter has to raise their own money to purchase supplies and tools to make the beds, which are designed in line with specifications provided by SHP. When they started, Kile said SHP gave them an “extensive” shopping list with all of the tools they would use to make and assemble the beds.
Before they went to their training, the new chapter put out some announcements on social media to spread the word. Shortly thereafter, Wayne managed to obtain a donation worth approximately $10,000 to start their venture.
“Karen and I went to a meeting. I got three minutes to present it [with] no handouts or anything,” he said.
Other donations helped the chapter get started, including $2,000 from Lowe’s, which is a long-time supporter of SHP.
After acquiring tools and supplies, Wayne and Kile hosted a practice build with a core group of 12 volunteers.
“After a lot of chaos, we built six beds,” Wayne said. “And it was chaos, but, boy, we learned.”
Three weeks later, they had their first public build, and more than 40 volunteers came to help that day. In 2 1/2 years, the chapter has hosted four public builds with as many as 76 volunteers at one event. They have constructed, delivered and assembled more than 160 beds in that time.
“That’s a lot of people that want to come and help, and they feel good about it, and they tell their neighbors about it,” Wayne said.
Who needs a bed?
Let’s face it: beds are expensive. Mattresses can cost hundreds of dollars. Then, you have box springs, frames, sheets, covers, pillows and other linens to add on top of that. Acquiring a bed can be a difficult task for many families, not just the ones in extreme poverty.
According to Kile, families in all kinds of situations have contacted and received beds from SHP. They’ve “seen everything” in the communities they serve.
“I think there’s a misconception about kids that don’t have a bed. They think the parents aren’t working. Parents are working, and they’re barely making it with what they have,” Karen said.
“We do not base it on income. We base it on social-emotional needs, just listening to the parents when we do a vetting. It’s all on the needs of the child,” Wayne said. “It’s human to human without judgment.”
Further information
Wayne, Karen and Kile want to inspire someone to start their own chapter in Crawford County. Interested parties can attend one of the Vernon County chapter’s public builds (one is tentatively scheduled for this spring).
For further information on the SHP Vernon County chapter, visit their website at shpbeds.org/chapter/wi-vernon-co or their Facebook page.
