'No kid should be sleeping on the floor': Utica nonprofit makes beds for those in need

Deep in the bowels of Sangertown Square mall, there was a flurry of activity on Tuesday evening.

It wasn’t crews finishing work on the latest retail tenant at the New Hartford shopping mall. Instead, it was a team of volunteers assembling beds to be donated to children in need.

Any assembly line of workers cut, drilled, sanded and assembled wood for twin-size bed frames at Tuesday’s gathering. The frames, along with mattresses and bedding, will be delivered to children in need.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which operates with the slogan “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town” is a nationwide nonprofit founded in Twin Falls, Idaho. The Utica chapter started operations in September after Steve Sperbeck was introduced to the cause at a charity golf tournament.

Since getting started, the group has built 83 beds and delivered 76, with a backlog of 60 beds yet to go. Sperbeck said there’s a core group of around 35 volunteers, which are supplemented by local businesses and other groups and individuals looking to help out.

“Once they come to one, they come back for a second and third one,” Sperbeck said.

The bed frames are assembled in the homes; the kids are sometimes excited to chip in. Once volunteers tag along to a delivery, it seals the deal for future involvement, Sperbeck said.

“It’s great,” he said. “I’ve cried at some of these deliveries.”

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Helping hands

The guest volunteers on Tuesday were from the local Assist2Sell, a real estate company. Rianna Lazarro, a licensed real estate salesperson, said the business is always looking for local organizations to volunteer for or donate to.

When Lazarro saw a Facebook post from Sleep in Heavenly Peace, she signed up and recruited coworkers to the cause. A former provider at Kids Oneida, the precursor to ICAN, she was aware of challenges facing children in the area.

“Going into local homes I’ve seen it firsthand, where kids are literally sleeping on the floor or there’s a mattress on the floor with no frame,” Lazarro said. “It hits home because I have kids of my own and no kid should be sleeping on the floor.”

Lazarro was already involved in sanding wood for the bedframes and helping to assemble them only an hour or so into her first time volunteering.

“It’s so organized, just step-by-step-by-step,” she said. “Anybody can come and do it. You don’t have to be handy.”

Community generosity

Each of the beds cost approximately $250, including the frame, mattress and bedding. The group can only use new bedding, pillows and mattresses; so far they’ve received enough donations to never have to purchase those items.

Donations of new, twin-size bedding can be made at three locations: AmericCU Credit Union in North Utica, First Choice Staffing in Whitesboro and Utica Gas and Electric Credit Union in New Hartford. Monetary donations can be made on the nonprofit’s website, shpbeds.org, and directed to the local chapter.

Sperbeck said the community support has been critical in starting up the Utica chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, with volunteers, private donations and Lowe’s donating $8,000 in lumber and tools.

“We can only give back to the community what the community gives us,” he said.

Sangertown Square offered the nonprofit space at a minimal cost, Sperbeck said, but the group would like to eventually move to a larger space with direct access for lumber deliveries.

Steve Howe is the city reporter for the Observer-Dispatch. Email him at showe@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Sleep in Heavenly Peace builds beds for Utica kids in need