Community support helps Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter in Watertown

A number of Watertown children are sleeping on the floor. That may come as a shock, but from Katie Stransky’s experience as a volunteer and president of Watertown's first Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter, that is the heartbreaking reality.

“So many people have asked if there really is a need for it here, and it’s just amazing how much of a need there is,” said Stransky. “There are all different kinds of reasons why kids don’t have beds. We aren't there to judge. We just want to get those kids off the floor.”

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a non-profit organization that began in 2012 when Luke Michelson of Twin Falls, Idaho, started making beds out of his garage to be given away to those in need in his town. When he realized that there were quite a few requests for the beds and that list was ever-growing, he discovered that children across the country were sleeping on the floor and set out to provide those children with a warm, comfortable place to sleep at night.

A reality TV show called "Returning the Favor" introduced Stransky to the organization a few years ago.

“I shared the show on my Facebook (page). It really touched me, but my kids were still in school, and I wasn’t in a place to start a chapter here in Watertown,” she said.

Dave Miller from Brookings was also watching the show, and he was ready to start building beds for South Dakota children. In 2018, Brookings became the 34th Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter. There are now over 200 chapters spanning across the US, Canada, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

The Brookings chapter has made and delivered 1,300 beds since it began in 2018. Some of those beds were being made for children in the Watertown community. With all the requests coming from Watertown, Stransky was approached and asked to create a local group.

Now that her boys had graduated high school, she took one of her sons, Frankie Chida, with her to complete their training in September. By October, the Watertown chapter was official, and Stransky got to work acquiring her core team of 25 people to make and deliver the beds.

Stransky took on the task of getting a chapter started in Watertown. The Glacial Lakes chapter that had served the Watertown region had folded, leaving supplies, tools and storage space for the new chapter to use. It was a great beginning, but Stransky knew she needed to start making beds as soon as possible.

“Things just fell into place. The timing is perfect. Everything is working!” Stransky said.

Support from Watertown has been awesome

The onset of winter meant that the chapter needed an indoor shop to manufacture and finish the beds. Stransky reached out online, hoping that her community would come through.

“I put on Facebook that we were getting requests and making deliveries, but we needed a shop space where we could build the beds. The very next day, Jackie Burghardt messaged me and said she had some space to use if we were interested.”

The space now allows for the team to assemble the beds and be out of the weather. But there were other needs to be met to ensure the chapter’s success.

Weismantel Rent-All provided a free trailer so the chapter could move into their shop space. The chapter just finished their November bedding drive and have received 13 pillows, 25 sets of sheets, comforters and even handmade quilts courtesy of Nancy Reisch and the Magic Needler Quilt Guild.

The beds are stained using white vinegar and a steel wool pad, which is dissolved, making a fast-drying, non-toxic wood stain. Stransky once again reached out online, asking for help obtaining vinegar and steel wool.

“Jerry Denman, president of the Vietnam Veterans Chapter 1054, saw my post and gave me a call. He said that he went to Walmart and bought us 30 gallons of vinegar and the steel wool,” said Stransky. “The community support has been really awesome. They are asking: How can I help? What do you need?”

Stransky wants to assure those who need a bed that their names are confidential and that they are not going into homes to cast judgment on the situation. Their only intention is to provide a place for children to sleep.

“We set up a little girl’s bed. It was 6 p.m. on a school night, I checked in on her after we set up the bed, and she was already asleep,” said Stransky. “I found out that she had been up since 4 a.m. because her back was hurting from sleeping on the floor. When kids are having trouble at school, you have to wonder, do they have food? Do they have a bed? Do they have a warm place to sleep?”

The beds are not meant to be an upgrade. They are for children ages 3-17 who do not have a bed.

Community support is vital part of a chapter's success

Along with her core team, volunteers and donations from businesses and good Samaritans alike contribute to the success of a group. In other communities, corporations like Lowes in Brookings donate supplies for builds to happen and invite the public to produce dozens of beds in one day. In Aberdeen, foundations like the 4J Foundation donated a year’s worth of mattresses to the Aberdeen chapter.

The individual chapters working together also plays a role in seeing their mission through. The Watertown chapter was made possible in part by the continued support and guidance of the Brookings chapter. Aberdeen's chapter, which began in 2020, donated a staining tool to the chapter in Sioux City, Iowa.

"We, as chapter presidents, all work together and share ideas," said Jeff Evenson, Aberdeen's chapter co-president. "It’s a fun network of people you can lean on to make sure that 'No kid sleeps on the floor in my town.'"

The mattresses that Watertown has been using are from Walmart online or Amazon. Stransky wants to explore an opportunity to get mattresses and lumber locally sourced instead.

“We are now at the point where we can approach local furniture stores and lumber yards and see if we can get supplies through them instead of online,” she said.

Fundraising efforts can also start taking place, and they will continue to do the bedding drives so that sheets, pillows and blankets can be provided with each donated bed. The new shop will need a ventilation system to draw out the sawdust while making beds, and Stransky is hopeful that the community will once again help make that happen.

Any new twin sheets, pillows, quilts, comforters and checks made out to "SHP Watertown SD Chapter" can be brought to The Bike Shop, 125 E. Kemp Ave., throughout the month of December.

Those that want to apply for a bed visit www.shpbeds.org.

For more information or to volunteer, visit the Sleep in Heavenly Peace Watertown chapter's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SHPWatertown or email Katie Stransky at katie.stransky@shpbeds.org.

“It’s a lot of fun to do the builds,” said Stransky. “Once someone goes and does a delivery and they see the look on these kids’ faces now that they have a bed - you just get hooked doing this.”

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Community support helps Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter in Watertown