Lakewood Ranch nonprofit offers a sound night's sleep

Palmetto’s Jessica Godfrey called Beds for Kids a godsend. 

Godfrey volunteers for Help to Home, which operates Hope Village, a 16-unit transitional housing program that assists families with children who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. 

Help to Home began temporarily housing families 10 years ago, but just built and opened the 16-unit complex in Bradenton. 

Beds for Kids, which was founded by East County's Mark Coates and operates out of his home, delivered two beds to the model unit June 19. Godfrey handed out nine sets of keys July 1 and already has another 14 bed requests for the nonprofit.

“We’re so lucky to have this resource — not everybody does,” Godfrey said. “They’re an amazing group of people.” 

Godfrey said people who are homeless or on the verge of becoming homeless are already bogged down by stress. Getting them moved in and stabilized requires coordination between several different resources. 

East County resident Kari Shear, whose husband Todd is the nonprofit's vice president, takes the bed requests, schedules deliveries, makes deliveries and manages the Bed for Kid's Facebook page.

Among those resources that work with Help to Home, Shear’s communication stands out. Not every nonprofit provides updates the way Beds for Kids does. 

Godfrey said she and those she helps never have to deal with the "undue stress" of not knowing if or when a bed request will be fulfilled because of Shear's diligence and the nonprofit's reliability.

“It’s kind of like a mom-and-pop type, compared to nationwide (nonprofits),” Shear said, “But we’ve never turned anyone away.”

Beds for Kids delivers anywhere between 30 and 50 beds per month. They fill orders within a week or two of receiving them.

Recipients must live in either Sarasota or Manatee County and be referred by a school, nonprofit or government agency. An individual cannot make the referral. 

Shear said the beds are easy enough to make that most anyone can volunteer when it comes to constructing them. The nonprofit takes the summer off from building because it’s too hot, but during the fall and winter months, residents can volunteer to build the first Saturday of each month. 

The beds are built in pieces for delivery purposes, and stations are set up to simplify the process. 

One person can be drilling holes through a headboard for screws at one station, while someone else is wrapping the bed slats together at another station.

Courtesy image

On painting days, kids can also volunteer. However, they need to be old enough to follow directions and stay focused enough to paint for several hours. 

The wood beds are kept natural, but each bed is delivered with a sleep scripture painted on the slats that hold the mattress. 

Proverbs 3:24 says, “You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.” That’s one of six scriptures the nonprofit uses. 

Anywhere up to 60 volunteers attend the first Saturdays. Shear said when volunteers help once, they usually want to help again. 

When delivered, each bed comes with a mattress, bedding, a "Bible" and a prayer rug. 

The wood and mattresses are donated by large suppliers, but the rest is provided by the community. 

Local church groups hand-make the prayer rugs and quilts, although not every bed gets a quilt because it’s tough to keep up with the demand. Bayside Church provides most of the "Bibles," which are tailored to children and are also available in Spanish. 

The community at-large helps buy the bedding. The nonprofit created an Amazon wishlist to make it easy. The list contains twin size bed-in-a-bag comforter sets for boys and girls of all ages that cost $50 or less. 

Children ages 3-17 are eligible to receive a bed, but most of the children receiving beds are ages 10 and under. A stuffed animal is added to the delivery when the kids are little. 

For the children Godfrey serves, the beds delivered by Beds for Kids are often the first beds those children can call their own. If they slept in a bed, they were most likely co-sleeping with their parents or siblings, and many of them have been sleeping on floors or in cars. 

The families are moving in with mainly just the clothes on their backs. Godfrey used one of the mothers who received a key July 1 as an example; she brought a pot and a frying pan.

While the housing at Hope Village is temporary for up to two years, the beds are for keeps. When that family is back on its feet, that child’s bed will move with them into permanent housing.