On February 18, Linganore High School (LHS) partnered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) to build beds for children in need in Frederick County, Md.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is an organization that began in Idaho and has spread across the US as well as Canada. Since there are so many children who sleep on floors or couches and never had their own beds, this organization wanted to help.

This mission has spread to many schools in Frederick County, including LHS, Middletown High School, Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, Walkersville High School, North Hagerstown High School and Tuscarora High School.

Anna Quackenbush, the division’s lieutenant governor, organized this service project alongside the Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy, Md. The Kiwanis Club is a community service club that has a primary focus of helping children in need. This club is a proud sponsor of Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Prior to the event, the schools had been accepting bedding donations. The Frederick County division received tons of blankets, sheets, pillows, comforters and all of the bedding items children without a bed of their own could hope for.

The beds themselves were built by volunteers. The build went on from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m at a warehouse SHP rents. Volunteers across the county spent their morning sanding down wood, drilling holes, screwing together the pieces of wood and adding finishing touches: the wood finish and the SHP emblem that had been pre-cut by volunteers a few days before.

“Basically, we made all the headboards and side boards for the beds, and they put it all together when they get to the houses,” Quackenbush said. “This makes it easier for them to deliver.”

This chapter of the organization has been around for four years and continues to thrive with donations and volunteer builds. For the past four years, volunteers have constructed twin-sized bed frames and prepared them with mattresses, blankets, quilts, sheet sets and pillows before sending them to those in need.

As the SHP motto states, “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town!”

If anyone wants to help prevent children sleeping on the floor in Frederick, they can donate or volunteer their time. For anyone in need of their own bed, please apply here.