Meet Luke Mickelson: Making a place for kids to sleep safely

Luke Mickelson quit his high-paying job of 18 years to build beds for children who sleep on the floor.

Helping Children in Need Sleep better

In 2012, Luke Mickelson was shocked to learn that there were needy children in his town of Twin Falls, Idaho, who were forced to sleep on the floor because they had no beds. Using safety guidelines and his daughter’s bunk bed as a template, Mickelson started using his own money to buy wood and supplies to build beds for these children. He recruited friends and family members to help. As word spread, interest and involvement surged. Mickelson is founder ‘Sleep in Heavenly Peace’, a nonprofit that has built and delivered more than 1,500 beds for children across the US. The charity has grown to include training courses, construction manuals and more than 65 local chapters nationwide."These kids … didn’t get into this situation because of their choices. The need I have is seeing the joy on kids’ faces, knowing that I can make a difference." Says Mickelson.

How a simple project to help one family in need spurred Luke Mickelson into action

In 2012, Luke Mickelson and his family were inspired to build and donate a bunk bed after learning there were local children who slept on the floor. "This little girl had a nest of clothes, it looked like a little bird’s nest. And that’s what she slept on, that’s what her bed was," Mickelson told CNN. "When we delivered the bed, she hugged it and just couldn’t let go."

Shocked to discover how widespread this need was in his close-knit community, Mickelson founded Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that builds and delivers beds to children in need. "It was such an eye-opener to me,"he recalled."I sat there in silence thinking, ‘Is that really what’s going on?’"

Born and raised in Idaho, Mickelson, now 41, was a high school quarterback-turned-family-man. A churchgoer with a thriving career, he coached his kids’ sports teams and fished in the nearby river. But when he met children who were sleeping on the floor, his idyllic life changed course.

"I had no clue about what the need was," Mickelson said."There’s kids next door whose parents are struggling just to put food on the table, clothes on their back, a roof over their head. A bed was just a luxury."

Using safety guidelines and his daughter’s bunk bed as a template, Mickelson started buying wood and supplies to build beds with his own money. He recruited friends and family members to help around the holidays.

As word spread, interest and involvement from his and other communities surged—along with Mickelson’s bunk bed output.

"That first project, we built 11 bunk beds in my garage," he said. "The next year, we did 15. Then it doubled every year. In 2017, we built 612 bunk beds."

Mickelson set up a formal charity, complete with training courses, construction manuals and local chapters so communities from coast to coast could join the movement.

With the motto "No kid sleeps on the floor in our town," the nonprofit and its more than 65 chapters have built and delivered more than 1,500 free beds to children across America.

But along with the rapid growth, Mickelson was faced with a tough choice: advancing his career or his nonprofit. He chose the latter and went from making "great money to zero money." He’s never looked back.

"I found that the need I have isn’t financial," he said. "The need I have is seeing the joy on kids’ faces, knowing that I can make a difference."

“I just knew that wasn’t going to be any kid that was going to sleep on the floor in my town if I had anything to do with it.”

Source: CNN

About Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Luke Mickelson believes all children deserve a safe, comfortable place to lay their heads. In Idaho and across the US, too many boys and girls go without a bed—or even a pillow—to sleep on. These children end up sleeping on couches, blankets, and even floors, and this can affect their happiness and health.

That’s where Sleep in Heavenly Peace comes in. It’s a group of volunteers dedicated to building, assembling and delivering top-notch bunk beds to children and families in need. The organisation has grown steadily over time, and they’re working on opening more chapters in different states to serve more people.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace had its start like many other charities, in a garage. It was Christmas time, a time of joy and happiness, a time of giving and love, but also a time of bitter, cold weather and snow storms. A project, that was started with the build of one bed for a single family developed into something a whole lot more. With wood left over from the first bunk, another idea was created. “Who else could benefit from this bunk”?

A simple post on Facebook sparked an unexpected response. What was thought would be a litter of requests from needy families, turned into a litany of local people eager to help and volunteer. The generosity of these volunteers was so surprising that it was no longer a search for one who needed a bed, but a question of how many beds they could provide. From there, the idea grew into reality. We can make a difference.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is now a 501(c)3 non-profit organisation. Their federal ID is 46-4346568 

Source: SHPBeds.org