The day before, Royal watched as a group of volunteers came into her Conroe apartment and built her a new bed, complete with a spring mattress, pillows and a pink bedspread. The bed came courtesy of the Montgomery County chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national nonprofit working to make sure “no kid sleeps on the floor in their town.”
Co-Presidents Mike Fortner and Will Warren run the chapter out of Fortner’s insurance office in Conroe.
Fortner and Warren launched the Montgomery County chapter in March 2021. They received their first call for beds in May.
Families in need should fill out an online application on SHP’s website. Volunteers assemble the beds at the chapter warehouse before delivering them. The Montgomery County chapter hosts one build event and one delivery event per month and as of February had delivered 220 beds since May 2021.
“We have it assigned, there’s this many residents, and then the crews go out and are typically done by noon,” Fortner said. “We go in, build the frame, put the mattress on, take photos.”
Warren said most of the recipients tend to be families in bad circumstances.
“People decide, ‘My kids can sleep on the floor, but they’ll have a roof over their heads and food,’” Warren said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sleep deprivation can lead to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, injuries and poor mental health. Sleep in Heavenly Peace estimates 2%-3% of children in the U.S. do not have beds of their own.
Fortner and Warren said cash donations are the most helpful. Sleep in Heavenly Peace uses money to buy lumber and bedding supplies to match the child’s preference.
“[This bed] is something they can call their own, and that’s huge,” Warren said.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
318 N. Main St., Conroe
713-702-8766
www.shpbeds.org
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Sat.-Sun.
