By Mike FinneyWYOMING — Kenyce Wescott has definitely deviated from her life’s plan.
First, she wanted to start a podcast, but when that didn’t pan out, she found a fulfilling alternative about a year ago.
“I discovered on Facebook ... that people were building beds for (less fortunate) kids in Maryland at that time, and I thought, ‘Hey, that sounds very rewarding,’” she recalled Wednesday, Aug. 26.
“It just sounded very nice to be able to provide these beds to these ... kids, and I saw where they didn’t have a chapter, a president or an organization in Delaware.”
Wescott had stumbled upon a national nonprofit called Sleep in Heavenly Peace, then subsequently founded its Kent County chapter. She remains its president, and her core group of volunteers meets sporadically at an industrial park on Brenda Lane.
Brian Thomas, the build manager of the chapter, said there’s more to it than just constructing furniture. The group has to obtain the funding to purchase the materials first.
“(Aug. 22) was our first build — with 20 beds,” he said Wednesday. “It’s really going to be determined by the funding that comes in. If we can get the funding, and we can plan for 20 (beds) a month, ... now you’re talking 240 over the course of a year.”
Sleep in Heavenly Peace builds and delivers beds for free to children ages 3-17 who are sleeping on floors or sofas, or who are sharing beds.
The organization has more than 400 chapters nationwide. They’ve constructed and delivered more than 350,000 beds since it was founded in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 2012.
The Kent County chapter’s website states that there are 23 beds needed now. It will make its first delivery Sept. 12.
Wescott and her volunteers are eagerly awaiting their distribution.
“Words can’t even explain how grateful I am for my team,” she said. “They were with me for three months before I even started this chapter, to go to Utah — that’s where we did training. ... We have so much in store for the community once we get bigger, and it’s very fulfilling.”
Volunteer manager Robin Galante said Wednesday that the core team includes eight individuals, but others chip in, too. The group had 29 for its Aug. 22 build day.
“Then, (four days later), we asked for 10, and we got 11, so it’s been working out pretty well,” she continued.
And children can help out, too.
“This shows other kids that (when) their peers and their classmates ... volunteer, ... it’s a great thing,” Galante said. “To be able to give back to the less fortunate, it just shows that it’s more than just you.”
She added that the local chapter’s goal is to build 50 beds by the end of the year. Those pieces are all twin-size, with mattresses, coverings and pillows.
For Thomas, volunteering for this group is significant.
“I can remember growing up and seeing people sleep on the floors. I didn’t grow up wealthy,” he recalled. “We grew up actually considered poor, but we didn’t know it.”
He went on to explain Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s process.
“We make the whole bed,” he said. “We show up with the rails and the bed headboard. We’ll assemble it. We supply the mattress, sheets, blanket, pillows, … and when we leave, they can lay down and go to bed.”
As for Wescott, she believes she’s found her sense of purpose.
“It gives me a sense of being grateful ... to have the things that people think (are) so simple — but it’s not. ... Having a bed and to be able to provide a necessity for a child is heartwarming.”
To learn more, visit shpbeds.org/chapter/de-kent-co.
