Shanika Cooper works 40 hours a week at a dealership during the day and then spends much of her evenings as a Door Dash deliverer. Then on Saturday mornings, she concentrates on Zoom classes to earn a GED.
Yet with all that, she was totally overwhelmed when she realized what it would cost to purchase beds for her four children in their new apartment in Montgomery Village. Her three girls and one boy range in age from three years to 13 years. She also has an 18-year-old who no longer lives with her.
Through a friend, she learned about SHP – Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that builds and delivers bed for children. Its motto is No Kid Sleeps On The Floor In Our Town!
SHP volunteers delivered seven beds in Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village on Nov. 2. Cooper gratefully received two single beds and one bunk bed.
Upon seeing the finished product, her youngest daughter exclaimed, “I have a big girl bed now” as all three girls immediately placed their stuffed animals all around their new beds.
They had been sleeping on old mattresses on the floor.
The totally volunteer organization counts on donations to purchase supplies. Recently, a seventh grader and her family led a bedding drive. Their efforts resulted in the donation of 64 bed sets.
According to Scott Nathan, president of the SHP Montgomery Village chapter, the local organization has been able to give 110 children their own beds in the past year and a half. The need is so great that after placing 100 children on a waiting list, SHP has temporarily stopped collecting names.
With more volunteers, SHP could deliver more beds, Nathan and Chapter Vice President Stephanie Mitchell said. For information, go to their website.
The organization’s three-step process begins with receiving the wood, tools and bedding at a warehouse in Frederick County. Then twice a month, supplies are brought to a storage unit in Gaithersburg.
Then, volunteers load up SHP’s white van, and often their own cars as well, and head out for that day’s deliveries. There, drill in hand, they assemble the beds, add sheets, comforters and pillows and watch as the children realize they now have a bed to call their own.
SHP learns where beds are needed in various ways. Sometimes school officials will reach out. Other times word comes from a community organization or other families.
