At Sleep in Heavenly Peace, we've been fortunate to be able to spread our mission across more than 125 different chapters. And within each of those chapters, you'll find inspiring and unique stories behind the why's and the how's of how their SHP journey got started.
In Missoula Valley, MT you'll find Chris Lunde; Chapter President and SHP Enthusiast. This is a treasured Chapter that we'd like to share with you to give you a glimpse of their unique contributions to the SHP family.
As a parent struggling to make ends meet, one of the most gut-wrenching things that can happen is to have someone deny you and your family help because you don't believe the same things they do, look the way they want you to, or affiliate with the things they do. Sadly, many have experienced this. Maybe you have.
On June 19, 2018, Bev Parsons received terrible news of her terminal illness. She was given two months to live.
About five years ago, Wendell Gramlich’s wife, Carol, was at a local school in West Wayne County, Michigan, where she worked with a student who was no longer progressing with his school work and was falling asleep in class. Carol found out that over Christmas Break, this student had lost his bed and had been sleeping on the floor. When Carol came home, she mentioned this student to Carol and Wendell’s thirteen year old daughter. Their daughter asked how much a mattress would cost, and used some of her own savings to get this student a mattress. Staff at the school donated a headboard and a frame, and soon the student began to progress in his studies without issue.
In 2012, when Luke Mickelson of Sleep in Heavenly Peace and his family took the time to build a few bunk beds for local children that were sleeping on the floor, they never could have imagined the long-term effects of that decision.
There's a popular country music song by Luke Bryan that says "rain makes corn, and corn makes whiskey, and whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky." Well sure, I guess. But I do know that rain makes everything wet and muddy, and Western Oregon has a lot of it. You'd hardly notice that though if you spent a rainy Saturday in June building bunk beds with the people who live there because it doesn't phase them one bit.
SHP has added dozens of chapters during the first half of 2018, and one of the side effects has been having too few experienced SHP veterans to attend the inaugural build days for all of our new chapters. This requires everyone in the organization to step up and help, and it also means I get the joy of flying to new places. Such was the case last weekend when I flew from San Diego, California to Eugene, Oregon not knowing entirely what to expect other than that I'd get to build bunk beds for children sleeping on the floor.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace adopted the slogan and motto years ago that reads “No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town.” It was created, much like everything else with SHP, by a simple, off-the-wall comment from an unsuspecting volunteer. When this all started, we weren’t sure just what message we could use that would best convey our passion and mission. We kicked around all sorts of ideas ranging from “Beds for Babes,” which didn’t last very long, to “Because every child deserves a nice place to sleep.”
It was in this setting and brainstorming mode when my Sister-in-Law brought everything into focus for us when she recommended that we keep things simple like “No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town.” It rang in my ears and in my heart so well that it was one of those “duh” moments I often have with SHP now. It addressed the mission that we are focused on and shared some of the passion we have towards the mission. Since then, “No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town” has become SHP’s mission statement, with the ever-evolving change of making our town everyone's town.
It’s been less than a week since the airing of Returning the Favor. As of the posting of this blog post, it’s has received 5.9 million views. I know that Facebook puts a fair bit of advertising into it but it’s still clearly a viral experience.
We have received an amazing outpouring of love from all over the United States… and even beyond. I thought I should share a few stats that illustrate what Mike Rowe has done for us… and it hasn’t even been a week. I also hope it helps those who have reached out to us and need a response from someone on our team to understand why we may seem slow to respond.
Dreams are funny. Happy or sad, scary or exciting, they all end when you wake up. Whether you’re relieved it’s over or so disappointed that you promptly make every attempt to fall asleep and jump back in, ultimately the only reality of a dream is starting a new day when it’s over.
Mine is the rare privilege of living my dream long after waking up, and it started with a simple phone call in late September when a faceless voice requested an interview about our charity, Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
We are so grateful to be a part of Returning the Favor. It was such an honor to be a part of the show and we have seen so much new opportunity because of Mike Rowe and his team. Even more children will be blessed because of this experience.