For many families, a bed is something easily taken for granted. But for some children in central Wisconsin, having a bed of their own is a luxury that’s out of reach.
The issue of bed insecurity — children sleeping on floors, couches or sharing crowded sleeping spaces — affects more than 154,000 children nationwide, including many in rural Wisconsin communities.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national nonprofit organization with local chapters throughout the U.S., is working to change that. The Spencer chapter, led by Alyssa Schade, has been delivering fully assembled beds to children in need since 2019.
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Their mission is simple but profound: “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.”
Schade spoke with WPR’s “Morning Edition” host Shereen Siewert about the organization’s efforts and said the Spencer chapter has already delivered more than 670 beds since its inception in 2019.
“For some of these kids, it’s the first thing that really gets to be theirs, especially if they have siblings and have had to share,” Schade told WPR. “Their bed is something that gets to be their very own thing, sometimes for the first time in their life.”
Despite the progress, the need continues to grow. Awareness remains a hurdle, but with each delivery, Sleep in Heavenly Peace moves closer to its goal. The organization is now working toward securing a van that will make deliveries easier and more efficient in the future, as they plan to continue addressing the needs of children throughout the Spencer area.
For Schade and the volunteers she works with, it’s about more than providing a place to sleep — it’s about giving kids a place to dream.
The following interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Shereen Siewert: Spencer is a small, rural community. How widespread is the issue of bed insecurity in rural areas and in central Wisconsin altogether?
Alyssa Schade: Our estimate is that roughly 2 to 3 percent of people in the U.S. are kids without beds, which feels like a huge number.
We started our chapter in 2019 serving about a 25-mile radius around Spencer. Since then, we’ve expanded to about a 50-mile radius.
Since 2019 we have delivered 670 beds, and I don’t think we’ve even cracked the surface at this point.
SS: What are some of the most common reasons that families in our area struggle to provide beds for their children?
AS: We see many requests from families struggling with finances, struggling to make ends meet. We also serve people who are in domestic abuse situations who are starting over.
We see plenty of immigrants who are starting fresh here as well. Sometimes we deliver to grandparents who are taking custody of their grandchildren.
Whatever the situation might be, I think there are just times when people must start over, and beds might not be a priority at that moment in time. It’s also not something people are always willing to talk about. There are a lot of programs that have more awareness for needs like food, backpacks, clothing and other necessities.
A bed might not be something you immediately think about because if you have one, you’ve probably had one all your life and it’s something you take for granted. If you don’t have one, you definitely understand how much you need one.
SS: Talk a little bit about how something as simple as a bed can impact a child’s physical and emotional well-being.
AS: My favorite part about Sleep in Heavenly Peace is that we go right into the home to deliver the beds. A lot of the time, the kids are there, and we include them in assembling the bed and let them pick the bedding they’d like to have.
If we’re fortunate enough to have a few extra things with us, that’s even better. They can choose the pillowcase they want, for example, and it just gives them so much ownership.
I like to include a tie blanket with each bed too, because I think of the kids in my own life, like my nieces and other kids I know. I see how they carry around their blankets, take it to the couch with them to watch movies or to a friend’s house for a sleepover. It’s just something that can truly be theirs.
SS: Tell me what it feels like to walk into a home and see the difference this makes.
AS: My favorite part is seeing how much our community comes together. It isn’t about me. It’s not about the delivery. It’s when everyone works together.
It doesn’t feel like what you’re doing is big, but when you see the impact you’re making and all the kids you’re helping and the way the community is just a little bit better off because of a small deed like this, it’s a great feeling.
SS: Take me through the process from start to finish, from identifying a child in need to delivering a fully assembled bed. How does it work?
AS: We have a lot of contacts to help us identify children in need. We work with our schools and county social workers and food pantries to make sure that people know they can submit requests to us online.
Once we have that request, we have a volunteer contact the family to learn if there are any special needs to consider. For example, we know we need to be cautious of situations like if a child has autism and might need flannel bedding instead of cotton.
After that, when we have a team available, they go and deliver the bed. They take all the pieces, the mattress, all the bedding and go into the home and assemble it there.
But before that happens, we have build days. Occasionally we’ll have a group that wants to do a corporate build where a company will sponsor 100 beds and they build them with their staff as a cool team bonding activity.
Other times we use community donations, or we have some groups who want to sponsor five or 10 beds, and we’ll go buy the lumber and invite as many volunteers as we can gather and set up a huge train, basically an assembly line to build the beds. We own all the tools, so our volunteers don’t need to bring any.
SS: How do you find volunteers?
AS: We post on social media and hang up a lot of flyers. I always ask people if they’re coming to bring a friend with them because I think if you see a flyer and it’s interesting to you, you think to yourself — well, maybe I’ll go. But if you have a friend who wants to go with you, you’re a lot more likely to follow through and actually get there.
SS: What do you hear from parents and teachers about the difference that these beds make in a child’s life?
AS: Every once in a while, we’ll have people reach out to us and tell us how excited their children are, that they wake up in a better mood. If you’re a parent, you know that’s important.
Occasionally, we’ll have someone message us on Facebook and say, “Hey, you delivered a bed for us a year ago and this has been such a game changer, and because of it we were able to move forward in all these different ways.”
SS: What does the future hold? Do you think that the need for beds will be growing or decreasing in the in the coming years?
AS: I definitely see the need as growing. One problem we have is awareness that the organization even exists. But when we post on Facebook that we have beds available we get a ton of requests, even from people just stumbling upon it.
As time goes on, even if you fulfill all the bed requests, there will always be a new generation of kids who need them. I don’t like to say it’s a never-ending problem because my hope is that one day we can get there.
Our mission statement is “no kid sleeps on the floor in our town.” That’s our goal, even if we haven’t gotten there yet.
If you have an idea about something in central Wisconsin you think we should talk about on “Morning Edition,” send it to us at central@wpr.org.
