AmeriCorps; Healthly Futures

“Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.” —Marian Wright Edelman

A bed to sleep in each night…. It seems like such a basic need, but for many Kentucky children, it is a luxury beyond their grasp. Instead, they must try to sleep on air mattresses that may deflate during the night, mattresses infested with bedbugs, beds shared with others, or even on uninsulated floors. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children who get less sleep than they need have a much higher lifetime risk of obesity, hypertension and diabetes than those who get enough.

Children ages 5-12 require 10-11 hours of sleep per night, and younger children require even more. Poor or inadequate sleep leads to mood swings and problems that impair children’s ability to learn. Many the children that this program reaches have unimaginably difficult lives during the day. While it is impossible to fix all the problems in the participant’s lives, we can help them recover from their tough days, improve their physical and emotional well-being, and increase their chances of success in school by helping them sleep better.

Members of the ATEAM AmeriCorps program have spearheaded Build-a-Bed events in five counties. When all the builds are finished, approximately 200 beds will have been built for children who do not have a bed to call their own. Each child who receives a bed also receives a bedtime bag filled with bedding, books, nightlight, toothbrush and tooth paste, etc.—all the things needed to get ready for bed and get a good night’s rest. Donations of cash and goods are received from community members, churches, and businesses to fund the cost of the build and the bedtime bags.

This project could not be completed without the assistance of many volunteers to build beds, deliver beds and help to supply needed items for the bedtime bags. After the last build on June 2, ATEAM members will have recruited more than 500 community volunteers and solicited more than $70,000 worth of cash and supplies. Most importantly—200 children will get a good night’s sleep and be ready for the school day. The impact on the lives of these children is great. “We have a first grader that went around all morning telling EVERYBODY about his bed, an ATEAM member shared. He told me this morning it was his first bed and that he didn't even know what a bed really was. "It's the best surprise I've ever gotten. It's better than the monster truck," he said. He rides the bus with my cousin. This little boy sleeps every morning on the bus. My cousin said that the little boy did not fall asleep on the bus this morning!”

The ATEAM AmeriCorps program plans to continue this project and make it sustainable in communities across Kentucky and beyond, through churches and other organizations. This project truly makes a difference in the lives of children.