With his birthday fast approaching, a boy was asked by his mother what he wanted as a gift. The boy requested a bed to sleep on. He did not have one at their home in Grand Prairie.  

For many families undergoing economic hardships, affording a comfortable bed costing hundreds of dollars is practically impossible.

So, the mother decided to get help. And just four days before his birthday in July, the young boy got his own bed — hand-built and delivered to his room by the recently formed Johnson County chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

“We in middle-class America take it for granted that everybody’s got a bed in our country, or in our city,” said Bruce Crenshaw, chapter co-president of Sleep in Heavenly Peace. “Unfortunately, it is just not the case.”

Idaho-based Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a national non-profit that provides suitable beds and bedding to children. Burleson’s Bruce Crenshaw and his wife Krista officially started a chapter in Johnson County in June.

According to U.S. Census Bureau, more than 18,000 individuals in Johnson Country are living in poverty, unable to meet basic needs. The numbers are much higher in Tarrant and Dallas counties.

“There’s so much need out there, and you can’t fix them all,” said Krista Crenshaw. “But you can maybe fix one thing. Find that one thing that you can fix, and you can do. So, this is our one thing that we can do and fix.”

The chapter, with community help and funding, has accommodated about 27 bunk-beds for children in needful households in less than six months.

By the end of this year, at least 100 local children will have a proper place to sleep, thanks to the chapter.

“The sheer excitement on them, like, they have a bed that’s their own,” Krista Crenshaw said of the children upon receiving the beds. “It’s something I can’t fathom. It makes you cry, it makes you smile at the same time.”  

The organization’s national office, in Idaho, receives requests for beds from individuals, schools, or any organization for children they know are sleeping without beds on the floor, anywhere. It will then contact chapter presidents closest to the area.

The chapter will then communicate with the applicants and process the request and determine if the child is really in need of a bed.

As of now, the Johnson County chapter is the only Sleep in Heavenly Peace location in North Texas. The chapter has accepted requests from as far as Irving and Dallas.

“We try and group them together so that we can do those deliveries on one day to that area of the city since it’s so far,” said Bruce Crenshaw. “We are all volunteers. We are not getting paid to do this. People work their normal jobs, so it’s hard for them to drop everything and go over there, you know, drive an hour to setup beds.”

The beds are usually assembled on different locations on days, called “build daysm” with the help of volunteers.

Recently, a team from Burleson’s Studio C Dance volunteered and built 16 bunk beds on Oct. 6. The next “build day” is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 27 at the warehouse of Qualbe Marketing Group, which is also funding the event.

“We’ve had whole families that come out and help us build. That’s one of the things we really like about this organization is that your family can be involved, and not just the adults or the older-teens,” said Bruce Crenshaw. “It’s a family thing, it’s a community thing.”

The Crenshaws are currently operating the chapter from their house but hope to relocate the chapter as the organization grows.

Inside their house, there are stacks of mattresses, blankets, sheets and pillows. The garage is crammed with lumber, wooden boards, rails and headboards along with machinery equipment and tools for woodworking.

“We want it good enough that kids are going to be safe and they are not going to get splinters and things like that,” said Krista Crenshaw. “We want people doing every bit of that, and not just us doing it. But, everyone.”

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