Charity helps kids in need
By James Card
Their motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town” and their goal was to build 20 bunk beds for Waupaca-area children.
On Saturday, Nov. 12, 25 volunteers gathered at Furniture N Creations, at E4355 East Gate Drive, and spent the morning sanding, drilling, fastening and staining wooden bed frames.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a nationwide nonprofit and they have chapters throughout the country.
“It is the only charity that provides hand-made beds to children that do not have beds of their own,” said Amanda Rasmussen, the owner of Furniture N Creations,
This was the first community build of the Waupaca chapter. A “build day” is when a group of volunteers get together to make beds.
Lumber was donated by Drexel Building Supply. Noffke Lumber also donated wood and buckets for the staining solution. Furniture N Creations supplied the tools and work area.
Rasmussen was watching Mike Rowe, the host of the TV show “Dirty Jobs.” He did a segment on nonprofits and Sleep in Heavenly Peace was featured.
Rasmussen thought that would be something great to do in Waupaca but she did not have the space. Her fledgling custom furniture business was still in the start-up garage phase.
She put it in the back of her mind but was reminded of it again when the Green Bay chapter launched. By this time, she had the space to do it after she moved her woodworking operations to the new workshop on East Gate Drive.
She went to the Sleep in Heavenly Peace headquarters in Idaho for a couple days of training and then with a core group of volunteers built a few test beds to work out the process for the first community build.
Each bed comes with a mattress, pillow, linens and a comforter. In a spare room adjacent to the Furniture N Creations showroom there is a small mountain of bedding from local donors. The chapter has partnered with Waupaca Mattresses to help source mattresses donations.
James Card Photo
Work stations
All of the beds are built from scratch and the design is straightforward so volunteers with no previous woodworking experience can easily roll up their sleeves.
At the Furniture N Creations workshop, work stations were set up and volunteers could try their hand at staining, sanding, cutting or drilling the various components.
Kids of all ages are welcome to help out with the adult volunteers.
“We have other things that need to be done like sorting bolts and washers and there are thank-you cards that need to be written. There is a job for everybody,” said Rasmussen.
Out the back door was a fire pit and Chloe Gregory pulled out a red-hot branding iron. She pressed it into the pine headboard and the wood smoldered.
After a few seconds, she lifted the iron and SHP, the nonprofit logo, was scorched into the wood.
From there the headboard was passed to Tina Demotts, a volunteer from the Fond du Lac chapter. She was tending the staining station. A large tank held a murky brownish liquid composed of vinegar and steel wool.
After two weeks of aging, the vinegar breaks down the steel wool and this oxidation solution gives the wood a weathered patina. She dunked in a headboard.
“The vinegar also deters bed bugs,” said Demotts.
Behind Demotts was a row of headboards drying in the sun and slowly revealing a new coloration.
Twenty bunk beds were under construction but these could also equal 40 single beds. The beds are designed so they can be stacked up as bunk beds or used as separate single beds.
Beds can be requested at shpbeds.org for kids ages 3-17 who live within 30 miles of Waupaca. A parent or legal guardian must sign a waiver of liability and provide contact information to verify and set up a delivery.