Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues, it is 7.52 and we're going to introduce you to an organization that you may not have heard before called Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Drew is joining me here in the studio from that organization to tell us a little bit about what they do. Good morning, Drew. How are you?
Drew: Good morning, Paul. I'm well. Thanks for having me here and thanks for your listeners out there listening in as well too. Sleep in Heavenly Peace, we got started in a garage out in Idaho in 2012 and we've grown into an international organization with a whole bunch of chapters across the U.S. and Canada. We've got a chapter right in Auburn, New York and what we do is we're run locally by volunteers that collaborate with community donors to build and deliver beds for kids age 3 to 17 that are sleeping in less than ideal conditions.
Paul Szmal: I didn't know that was such a thing.
Drew: It is. It's really hard to hear because most of us have actually grown up sleeping in a bed so we don't really think about like not having a bed but the truth is is that in any given population probably somewhere between 2 to 3% of the population are kids that are sleeping in less than ideal conditions. They might be on a floor, they might be on a broken couch, they might be on just a mattress on the floor itself or so and it's such a simple thing that we do where we've delivered out of our Auburn chapter in the 5 years that we've been there over 1,100 beds so far and the need's out there and we're trying to continue to grow.
We're looking for folks here in Geneva that are interested in helping us start up a chapter as well too and we've got a couple of build days coming up where volunteers in the community can come in, no experience needed. We have a workshop right there in Finger Lakes Mall and those build dates are coming up on Saturday, April 19th from about 9 to 1 and we've also got another one on Saturday, May 17th from 9 to 1 where we're going to be turning some raw lumber into some bed frames that we'll go and deliver to the kids.
Paul Szmal: Oh wow, so you're going from scratch, not just buying kits and assembling them.
Drew: No, no, no, no, no. It's all like we take the raw lumber, dimensional lumber, we've got a full wood shop, 19 different stations on simple one or two stops and we just go from there to building the frame and when we go to deliver, not only do the kids get that brand new handcrafted wooden frame, we also deliver a brand new mattress as well as the bedding so that the kids will have their very own bed that they can slide into and go to sleep that night in their own bed.
Paul Szmal: Now are those materials like the wood, the bed frames, things of that nature, are those donated, the materials to make those when you put those together?
Drew: Some of it's donated, some of it we collaborate with different funding groups in the area in order to raise funds for a bed as well too. Each bed costs us about $350 to put together and that includes the mattress and the bedding as well too, but we wind up having the ability to be able to maybe get those a little bit extended as far as those dollars go because so far as a chapter, we've been very gratefully blessed that we've had most of our bedding actually donated to us from the community. Brand new twin size beds, so brand new twin size bedding and the tune of like $27,000, $28,000 each year that we've been there, people just dropping bedding off to us to go.
Paul Szmal: So you survive and thrive on donations from the community.
Drew: Yeah, oh absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a community collaboration, we can't do this by ourselves and we're very grateful that we have those community members and those community foundations out there. A big shout out to Lowe's as well too because Lowe's has been a really critical, important partner for Sleep and Heavenly Peace nationally as well too and locally in our Auburn chapter.
Paul Szmal: So you mentioned that you were trying to start a chapter here in Geneva as well?
Drew: We're looking to. I know that over the past few years, it's like I keep getting phone calls from people in the Geneva community that are looking for beds. We just don't cover Ontario County as yet. The closest that we come is actually over in Seneca County. We cover the towns of Seneca Falls and Waterloo, but we'd love to have a conversation with folks in Geneva in order to see what the interest is in order to get a chapter going here in Geneva as well too.
Paul Szmal: Do you do any kind of fundraising events to help raise money for the organization?
Drew: We don't. We're actually, we do a lot with grants, like the Fred L. Emerson Foundation has been one of our major sponsors as well too for five years or so. The Jim and Julie Boeheim Foundation has also helped a lot as well too. A lot of it is just community donors just going in and giving us, you know, here's a hundred Drew, here's 25, here's 50, you know, here's 250 or so. And we also partner with some groups as well too. A couple of years running now, we've had the Jimmy Muldoon Memorial Golf Tournament, Pinstrill raised funds for us. And then we have a Jimmy Muldoon Memorial Build Day. Jimmy Muldoon was a well-known bartender and a community advocate in Auburn, New York, that his family has decided to carry on his legacy and has partnered with us the past couple of years as well too in order to help us with fundraising.
Paul Szmal: Somebody knows a family that might be in need of your services or they might be interested in becoming a volunteer because I know you have, you need volunteer help to help assemble these beds on the Build Days. How do people find out more about the organization and get in contact?
Drew: Sure. So everything can be reached right out through our national website at shpbeds.org. There's a real simple short application process right there in order to apply for a bed if you know in the Eastern area that you've got a kid that needs a bed. And you can also find out more information about our local Auburn chapter as well too out there on shpbeds.org.
Paul Szmal: Alright, well thanks for stopping in Drew. Appreciate it.
Drew: Thanks Paul. Thank you for the information.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. Alright, and again that's shpbeds.org is the website you can check out. Coming up on 759 here on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes Newsradio. On the way in the 8 o'clock hour, we have Newsmaker Interviews coming up as we'll chat with our friends from the Family Counseling Service of the Finger Lakes at 815 and then at 835. This morning we have a visit with our friends from the Geneva Public Library. Don't forget the book sale starts tomorrow. I'm sure that's one of the things that we'll be covering. On the way next, Greg Conroy has local news, but first we have the CBS World News Roundup covering world and national stories.
