Steve Westfall stands in the building warehouse in Ripley, West Virginia, for the chapter of sleep by Jackson County in heavenly peace. (Photo by Amelia Ferrell Knisely/West Virginia clock)
Ripley, W.Va. – In Jackson County, some children don’t have a bed to sleep. You will sleep on sofas on the floor or with siblings.
The former member of the delegate House, Steve Westfall, decided to do something about it.
He started a local chapter of Sleep in heavenly peace sleepA national non -profit organization that sets up and supplies volunteers for the construction and delivery of handmade beds together with mattresses, bed linen and pillows for the needy. The slogan of the non -profit organization says: “No child sleeps on the ground in our city.”
Since the day of the laboratory, Westfall said that they had delivered nine beds to local children.
“An 11-year-old told us that this was the first bed she ever had,” said Westfall, who served as a Republican in the house from 2012 to 2024.
He says you will deliver 25 beds to children by the end of the month.
“We know that there is a need. We have two more applications today,” he said on September 16.
Westfall said he learned from a legislator, Senator Ben Queen, R-Harrison, in heavenly peace, who had built beds in his home district.
West Virginia has one Rising child poverty rate and a Nursing crisis – Problems from which Westfall heard in the legislator – who have contributed to the fact that children need beds. Sometimes suddenly grandparents Take up several grandchildrenAnd they don’t have enough beds or ceilings for the children or the means to pay for it.
Westfall worked with FEllly Ripley Rotary Club members to put the local chapter into operation.
In Ripley, not far from the insurance agency from Westfall, there is now a building full of wood, table saws, Sanders and more. Westfall said that grants and local donations have contributed to getting together.
Westfall traveled to Salt Lake City to learn how to make beds in heavenly peace.
Voluntary groups come in on designated weekends to build and put together single beds and bunk beds. There is a tank for a mixture of vinegar and steel wool in which sideboards and head parts are treated to ward off bed bugs.
“Ten -year -olds could do that,” said Westfall. “We had 8-year-olds on the Sanders and we had 80-year-olds on the Sanders.”
Finished beds are stacked in a 20 -foot storage building next door, which was donated by the locals Constellium plant.
“The community really supported itself,” said Westfall.
Leaves, ceilings and pillows – all donated objects – are sorted in bags and labeled by gender and age in order to be delivered together with the beds and mattresses.
Families can apply via a link that is shared on Facebook.
“As long as they live in Jackson County, we will approved them between the ages of 3 and 17,” said Westfall. “We deliver them and set them up.”
Westfall said the greatest need during this time was money to buy mattresses. He also hopes that more sleep can be opened in heavenly peace chapters in the state. There are currently four chapters from the non -profit organization in West Virginia.
If you want information about sleep in heavenly peace, contact Steve Westfall at steve.westfall@shpbeds.org.
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