It’s 2021. We live in an affluent society. Too many people are homeless – individuals and whole families. Some can’t afford to wash their clothes. And there are many kids who do not have their own bed. You read that correctly. Kids here and in a lot of places do not have a bed to sleep in.
No doubt we’d all like to sleep in heavenly peace. For many kids in Knoxville and three East Tennessee counties, a small and relatively new non-profit led by Bill Thompson is working to solve this problem for kids.
The organization’s motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town” and its name is “Sleep in Heavenly Peace.”
Bill Thompson
“The name of our organization sounds like we make caskets, but we actually make beds that can be used as single beds or bunk beds,” he recently told the Rotary Club of Farragut. The recipients for the beds are between the ages 3 and 17 in Knox, Anderson and Campbell counties. They’ve been in business since September 2018.
Each bed costs them $250, and that includes the bed, mattress and the bedding materials (sheets, pillows, pillowcase, etc.).
“We have 65 applications right now for beds, and, since we began, we’ve built and delivered more than 500 beds (60% in Knox, 25% in Anderson and 15% in Campbell counties),” Thompson said, adding that their goal is to deliver the beds within three weeks after an application is submitted.
They have “build days” when volunteers work in assembly style to construct the beds. “We can make 30 beds in two hours,” he said. Their next build day is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Food City parking lot in Jacksboro.
He also said that donations account for 100% of the expenses for the wood and things needed for the assembly process. “Covid really affected our donations and we’re low on funds now. But the money raised here stays here,” he said. “It all goes to the materials.”
Go here to see a video that explains how their operation works.
The East Tennessee chapter is part of a national organization with 250 chapters across the U.S. To learn more about the local chapter, go here.
Someone asked if they’d built beds for kids in Farragut. “Yes,” he said. “More than you might think.”
To explore membership in the Rotary Club of Farragut, call 865-659-3562. Farragut Rotary meets each Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. at Fox Den Country Club. Tom King, a past president of Farragut Rotary, has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California and has been the editor of two newspapers.