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What does sleep look like for a child who doesn’t have a bed?

In honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, Allison is spotlighting a foundational—but often overlooked—piece of healthy sleep: having a bed. In this episode of How Long ’Til Bedtime?, she’s joined by Lauren Evans, mom of two and Executive Director of Beds for Kids, an organization serving more than 1,000 families each year by providing beds and essential furniture to children and parents in need.

Lauren shares how becoming a parent shaped her passion for this work, the moment she first realized furniture poverty existed, and how Beds for Kids grew from a small garage operation into a large-scale nonprofit serving families across the Charlotte area. Together, Allison and Lauren explore why sleep is so deeply connected to stability, safety, and emotional well-being and how the absence of something as basic as a bed can ripple into every part of a child’s life.

The conversation highlights the impact of sleep deprivation on children facing housing instability or trauma, as well as the toll it takes on parents who are already juggling immense stress. Lauren explains how providing beds, cribs, and furniture helps families establish routines, improve sleep, and begin to feel truly settled in their homes.

Allison and Lauren also dive into the innovative and sustainable model Beds for Kids uses to source furniture, including partnerships with colleges, universities, and retailers that keep tens of thousands of items out of landfills each year. You’ll hear how volunteers power the mission, how families (including children) can get involved, and exactly what different donation amounts make possible.

During Sleep Awareness Week and beyond, it’s worth remembering that for many families, better sleep starts with access to something most of us take for granted – a bed.

Visit Beds for Kids to learn more about this important work or to support their mission

Give your child the gift of better sleep. Allison’s free, age-specific guides show you exactly how many hours of rest kids need to grow, learn, and thrive—no matter their age. Get your free copy now: 0-2 Years Old or 3 to 10 years old

From baby sleep to toddler sleep, daycare naps to sleep training—How Long ’Til Bedtime? is the podcast for parents who want practical, guilt-free sleep tips they can actually use.

Hosted by pediatric sleep coach Allison Egidi, each episode delivers real solutions for every stage—from navigating newborn sleep struggles and weaning night feedings to helping your 3-year-old fall asleep independently (and stay asleep!). Whether you’re trying to make sense of daycare sleep patterns, craving your evenings back, or simply need a working mom podcast to keep you grounded, you’re in the right place.

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Scroll down for a full transcript of this episode.

230. Sleep Starts With a Bed: Addressing Furniture Poverty for Families with Lauren Evans
Allison Egidi: Hey there, Allison here. Welcome back to How Long ‘Til Bedtime. This week is National Sleep Awareness Week, a week dedicated to recognizing just how foundational sleep is to our health, our functioning, and our ability to thrive. To celebrate a week that is all about sleep, I wanted to introduce you to an organization that is helping families meet one of the most basic and often overlooked foundations of healthy sleep, having a bed. Lauren Evans is a mom of two and the executive director of Beds for Kids, an organization that serves over thousand families each year by providing beds and other essential furniture to children and parents in need. I cannot wait for you all to hear about this amazing organization and the awesome work that they’re doing.

Well, hi Lauren. Welcome and thank you so much for joining me today. I’m really looking forward to chatting about Beds for Kids and the families that you all serve. I always like to start every episode by asking my guests what inspired you to pursue the work that you’re doing today.

Lauren Evans: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited for this conversation. And that’s a great first question. I would say my inspiration is my children. I have two young boys. They’re six and eight. And when I first started my journey at Beds for Kids, one was an infant and one was two. And so they are definitely an inspiration for me and the reason that I have so much passion for this organization, because I just can’t imagine little babies and children not having a bed to sleep in at night.

Absolutely. Can you tell us how you became connected with Beds for Kids? So was it coincidental? Was it intentional? Tell me how you all crossed paths.

Yeah, I always say that it was very serendipitous. I was at my pediatrician’s office and it was like, you know, the three month well visit for my youngest. And I saw a postcard that was on the bulletin board and it said, you know, do you have any cribs you want to donate or anything like that? And so I was intrigued because I was like, all right, I want to learn more about this. I didn’t know there was a place you could donate cribs. And then I learned more about beds for kids. And I thought, this sounds like a really cool organization. And at that point, I was trying to pivot career-wise, just trying to figure out, did I want to go back into the corporate world? I had owned my own business. And so I just signed up to volunteer to just see what it was all about. And I just remember walking in the doors at Beds for Kids and thinking, I love it here. Like I love the mission, I love what they’re after, and I love the people that were running after the mission. And I went on my first delivery with Zach and Moses who are still on my team today. And they’re probably the big reason of why I’m still here. It’s because of their energy, their passion, and their care for the families.

I love that. And it’s such a good example of how sometimes parenthood just completely blows our whole world up in so many ways because I’m doing what I’m doing because of my kids as well. So I think a lot of people can relate to that. So as someone who previously worked in the nonprofit sector, I always love to hear specifically what about that organization made this job feel right? So was it just going on that first delivery? Was it meeting the people who work there? But what really just drew you to know that you didn’t just want to work at any nonprofit, you wanted to work here.

I think naively in the beginning, I didn’t know that furniture poverty existed. I didn’t know that people didn’t have beds and furniture in their home. I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where we never needed any of those items. My parents were able to provide those. And so I think for me in the beginning, it was this mind-altering moment where I went into this home and this woman and her two young children had nothing. And so that first delivery was just so incredibly impactful because I think it just… There’s very few memories in my life of just a whole shift in your mindset where you’re like, thought this was true and this is not the actual reality. And after I left that delivery, I just thought, wow, I don’t know what to do with this. It’s a lot to process. And I remember going home and I looked at my husband and I was like, we gotta get rid of all of our furniture. We have to donate it. We gotta get rid of this stuff that we don’t need. We gotta give it to the Beds For Kids. My husband was like, okay, relax, like calm down. We can really, we can start going into this slowly. But I think just felt so passionate about it. And I think it was probably a mixture of that first delivery and just really having that moment of looking at that empty space and not understanding the reality of people who live very close to me. And then also the people that are doing this work because they’re just selfless. There are so many people that work in nonprofits and I know that you know this because you come from that world. They believe that they believe so strongly in whatever they’re running after. And I was just like, I love that. Like I have a heart for it. I just, I mean, sure. I think a lot of it because I’m a mom and a parent, I was like, I have to be a part of this mission because this feels so tangible. Like I could do something about it, right? And I also think that was a huge piece of it. Like I can move the needle here by delivering beds and furniture versus it being another nonprofit where maybe it wasn’t something that I could see. I think that was also a huge piece of it for me.

I love that. So let’s zoom out a little bit and can you share the origin story of Beds for Kids and how it all began?

Yeah. So we have three founders and one of our founders and his wife were a part of a group at their church and they had gotten this sofa and they had gotten and realized that they didn’t need it for their home and they wanted to donate it, but they didn’t know where to donate it. And they didn’t want to just take it to another organization that was going to repurpose it or sell it. They were like, we want to know who it goes to. And so they identified a family through their group at their church. And so our one founder went into measure for the sofa because he wanted to make sure that it would fit before he went into the home to deliver it And he got there and there was nothing else in the home. And so he was like, okay Where’s all your others? There’s your kitchen table and chairs. Where are your beds for your kids? And you know, was like, yeah, we don’t we don’t have that and so I think that that was a big moment for him. He got back in his car and he was like, okay like I you’re saying something to me God and I know that I need to follow this and and I I don’t know what it is yet, but I feel like we need to do something here. And so they pulled together resources within their group and were able to furnish the whole home. And it was just this incredible experience. And they were just looking at like how it changed their life. And so he went out and said, hey, who’s doing this great work in Charlotte, right? There’s gotta be somebody that’s doing that. The more he asked questions about who was doing it, there wasn’t really a clear furniture bank. It was like maybe somebody was doing it on the side, had it a part of their nonprofit, but nobody was really focused on it. And so they realized, hey, we need this in Charlotte. We need a furniture bank. And so that was 2010, and we got started in 2011, and this year will be 15 years of Beds for Kids.

It’s wild. And you told me when we chatted before that he literally started it in his garage. Is that correct?

It did. It started in a garage. I don’t know which founder’s garage it was. And then it was a storage unit. And then it was our first 9,000 square foot space on South Tryon, which is right around the corner from our current warehouse, which is 17,000 square feet.

And you guys are still growing, correct?

Yes, yeah, so we have two warehouses right now, a 17,000 square foot space and a 35,000 square foot space. And we are actually moving right now, combining both of those into a 44,000 square foot space. from a garage to 44,000 square feet in 15 years, it’s, I mean, even when I think about it, I’m like, it’s just, it’s wild. And it’s wild how we have a fleet of trucks and there are very early pictures of Beds for Kids and beds being delivered on the top of one of our founders, like Nissan Xterra. And so you’re like, how did this, it’s, you know, I it’s just community, it’s neighbors helping neighbors. It’s looking at something and saying, yeah, that we need to do something about that. And I think there’s something so, special about that. And I think that’s why I feel so called to be in nonprofit work. It’s people saying, there’s a problem, we should fix this and we can do this and it’s gonna make our community better.

It’s amazing that the organization has been so successful. And then it’s also sad in a sense that there’s such a need. So help us understand how many families you guys are serving now.

Yeah, I mean, it is. always say all the numbers that I share are always bittersweet, right? Right. I don’t want it. I don’t want to be serving, you know, as many families as we’re serving. But I’m so glad that we’re able to do that work and being able to fill that need. But yeah, I mean, we we receive around 160 family referrals a month. We work with 93 different agencies across three counties, Mecklenburg, Union and Cabarrus counties. And last year alone, we served 1,326 families. So, I mean, we’re delivering to around like 30 families a week that don’t have any beds and furniture in their home. So, I mean, we’re not seeing a slowdown. We’re not seeing that abate at all. And I think sometimes I think, gosh, like, will we ever be able to solve it? And I mean, I hope in my lifetime, we will be able to and work, you know, work our way out of a job. you know, I don’t know.

Right. Tell me a little bit about how the families find you. So you partner with agencies in these various counties.

Yes, so we partner with an agency that’s walking along alongside the family, kind of depending on what circumstance. So they could be in a shelter, they could be living in a hotel, they could be living in their car, or they could be living with a friend, right? And they have found they’re working with an agency that’s helping them get permanent housing. And then once that housing is secured, then Beds for Kids kind of enters the equation. We look at ourselves as a resource multiplier. So if you have, we work with 93 different agencies, each of those agencies was spending their resources on like outfitting these apartments, right? Trying to buy things at Target and Walmart and Amazon and, know, we were like, no, no, like we’ve got that. We can figure that piece out and we can get the furniture for you. And all you need to do is put a referral into Beds for Kids and then we will serve that family for you. And we deliver it. We set up all the furniture. We spend time with the family afterwards, making sure everything is exactly where they want it. And so we have just, we’re like a logistics nonprofit. I always say we’re just, you know, we’re a business with a heart for all intents and purposes, because we do run it very efficiently. We just want to be able to help other nonprofits just operate as efficiently as possible. And so for us, that’s just a huge part of what we do.

I love that because you’re not recreating a wheel that doesn’t need to be recreated. You’re optimizing what’s already happening, which is the best way, in my opinion, for a nonprofit to work. And so I know beds are just a part at this point of what you all do. But from your perspective, what changes when a child gets their own bed? So not just practically speaking, that they have a bed, but even emotionally. Tell me a little bit about that.

So what we see is, and I kind of wish this was where we could just cue to the video of all. Like we have a compilation of kids, parents’ videos they’ve sent in to us of kids being just so excited when they hit their bed. Like they’re just like screaming and cheering and jumping up and down. And they’re just like, I got a bed. And I mean, honestly, you’re like always moved to tears because that’s so heartbreaking. Like that is, like you’re just, it’s hard to kind of wrap your head around the fact that they didn’t have that.

And I think that so often these kids have been through, these kids and these parents have been through so much trauma. They have moved many times. And so when they do get in permanent housing and they have that bed to have, you know, to call their own, like, yeah, I mean, there’s one video it’s like, my gosh, like I got a bed. And it’s just.

Relief, joy, safe.

Right? Like a lot of these kids come from really tough situations and they’re able to have their own bed at night to sleep in. And like let’s, I mean, I always liken it to my children being on vacation, right? Like the worst sleep they’re ever going to get. Like they’re sleeping with their sibling, like trying to double up. Like we always come home a little bit exhausted because everyone is just not sleeping well. And that’s, mean, they’re sleeping in a bed. So I can’t imagine, I mean, we have gone in and know, moms are sleeping on an air mattress that has a hole in it with three kids. Mom’s not sleeping great. Kids certainly are not sleeping well. And I mean, I just don’t understand how we can not look at that and take it a little bit more seriously. Like I think people sometimes don’t think that, don’t fully appreciate the importance of beds and furniture. And it’s, there’s just this emotional connection, but it’s also just like sleep is so important. Everything you do. And it’s a real simple way for you to live a better life, to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night. And these kids are not getting that.

And then we’re expecting them to just like continue absorbing this trauma, continue like not sleeping. And then they’re supposed to go to school and they’re supposed to perform like all of their peers who are not in that same situation. And so for us, like, we’re like, I mean if nothing else, if we can’t change the trajectory of the parent’s life, like let’s give those kids a shot and let’s make sure that they’re able to get a good night’s sleep and at least be able to be prepared to go in and face whatever they’re going to have to face that day. And so I think that’s, it’s what’s, what, what kind of drives me.

You’re preaching to the choir here because I was just working on a class that I’m going to be teaching the week that this podcast episode comes out in kind of recognition of Sleep Awareness Week around elementary school sleep and how sleep can be the foundation for learning, being able to behave in the classroom, being able to be ready to learn, to digest what you’ve learned, to retain what you learned.
And as you’re talking, I’m just thinking, wow, when you have everything stacked up against you, not being able to have your child get a good night’s sleep is just one more thing that’s working against them. So everything you’re saying really resonates with me. And then if you just take the parents and what they’re dealing with, I’m curious, kind of your thoughts on how having beds impacts their ability to work, to function, to parent. What kind of transformations have you seen there?

Yeah, I mean, we went into a house one time and the mom was working third shift. I mean, those are brutal hours, right? Like that’s, they’re working multiple jobs. Like all of these families are working so hard or like oftentimes like our kids are living with like grandma and grandma doesn’t have a bed. And I’m thinking, oh my gosh, like you’re just like 75 years old and I need you to have a bed. But for us, what we’ve seen is we reduce co-sleeping with moms with new babies. So we bring in cribs, we bring in twin beds, so then babies are now sleeping in their own bed, which again, being a mother, sleeping with your child is that you’re not hitting REM cycle often, I feel like. You’re getting kicked and everything else. And so they have little time to sleep. And so giving them a space that they can be like, like this is my space. And then even if your kid is in a twin bed in the same room as you, you at least know that like they have their own space to go to and I have my own space and we can take a breath. And I think that that’s huge, right? And so we will go in and these moms are like, my gosh, like this bed is, this is incredible. Like, thank you so much. Like I needed this and like my kids needed this. And like we were so, you know, there’s, so co-dependent sometimes because they’ve been through a lot together. And so them having their own space is kind of nice and being able to like be in separate rooms and are even just like the same room in a different bed. And I just always like to kind of think about, okay, if this was me, how would I feel in this situation? And so, again, we go back to if I don’t have a good night’s sleep and then my kids don’t have a good night’s sleep and then I’m working third shift. Like what, I just think the entire rhythm is disrupted. And so therefore nothing else works well. And I think it’s just so important to give them that foundation, both mom, dad, grandmother, and the children.

Absolutely. And you’ve mentioned a few stories and I’m sure every day you are experiencing kind of the life-changing impact that you all are having. But I guess I’m curious if there’s any message or visit you’ve received from a family afterwards that’s really stayed with you.

You know, I was lucky enough to go on a delivery. It was probably right after Christmas, like early January. And this one has really stuck with me most recently. There have been so many. I mean, we serve a lot of wonderful families. So I think it’s hard to choose a favorite, but this one is my recent favorite, probably. We serve this family. Mom had just had her fifth child. She had delivered on Monday and we were delivering beds and furniture on a Wednesday. And she was heading to her appointment. She was going back to the doctor, you know, that two day after you have your baby to make sure everything’s going well. So she’s heading out. Her husband’s helping her, bundle her all up in her van. And then she leaves. And it’s just the dad and the two of us that we’re delivering. And we don’t get a lot of interaction with a lot of dads. It’s usually a mom. And so he was so helpful. He helped us build all these things. The kids were so polite. We felt we brought in a crib for that new baby. You know, we made sure the kids all had beds, like dad, they needed a new mattress. It was just, these kids were so young. They were so, so young and they didn’t have what they needed. And so for me, after we left, just, you know, he was like, we couldn’t have done this without you.

And like, I get like emotional, I’m telling you. Every time, like, I feel like we have one of those, but it’s like, we couldn’t have done this without you. Like, it’s so expensive to buy beds and furniture and, you know, to have somebody rent a U-Haul and just to take the time to get to know you and serve you and just like make you feel wanted and loved. And I think that’s what we do. Like it’s not just about the beds and furniture. It’s like really turning the house into a home. And so for us, like, you know, that mom was so overwhelmed in that moment. Like she had so much going on and so did the dad. And they were just like, you could just tell it was like one less thing they had to worry about.

And they are just, gosh, this is just so wonderful. And we couldn’t have done this without you. We don’t need that. We don’t need that validation to keep doing what we’re doing. But it does make it like, yeah, I would love for if I was going through that same situation for someone to help me out, so that’s kind of it, right? Like neighbors helping neighbors. You need help, and we’re going to make sure that you get the help you need. And I think that’s what we should do.

The world needs more of that. The world needs more of that. Right?

Like I just, I don’t know, I did. That was, that’s probably the most recent one that I’m like, that so great. My, yeah.

I love it. One thing you mentioned when we chatted before that I hadn’t really thought about because similar to you, I guess I just was naive about this need and organizations like yours until Beth who edits the podcast, her son volunteered with you all. That’s how we found you. And when you and I were chatting, you mentioned that there is a sustainability aspect to what you all do. And I thought, that’s cool. I hadn’t even really thought about that, but I think it’s important and I think it’s meaningful. So can you talk a little bit about that and how you’re sourcing furniture and just that whole sustainability piece of the of organization?

Yeah, so this is where I like really put on my business hat. When we came in, we were, you know, we were operating, we were doing 15 deliveries a day. And then we were picking up throughout the community, 15 like slots a day, 15 or 15 deliveries a week, and then 15 pick up slots a week. So I was like, okay. Like, is there a way for us to like not do so many community pickups? Because we were also seeing a decline after COVID. People were just donating less. They were selling more on Facebook Marketplace and like, it just wasn’t, we weren’t seeing that same volume. Plus we were serving more. So was like, this gap was widening, right? Like the need was getting, the need was growing and the furniture was kind of remaining the same. So we were like, okay, well, this is a huge gap here that we need to close.
And so I was like, what if we do more bulk? Like we find like different areas that are getting rid of furniture and they’re just gonna throw it away. Like does that exist? Is that a thing? Because in my head I’m thinking, do you know how much like we all buy? Like we’re such consumers and we consume things we consume and then we like either throw it away or we donate it, right? Like so I was like that has to be happening with furniture.

And so we kind of tested that theory out and we worked with a college who was just basically they were selling a piece of property in Charlotte. It used to be a dorm and they were turning it into an apartment, like a privately held apartment. They had five floors worth of furniture that they were just going to throw away.

Of dorm room furniture.

And so we were like, OK, we have no idea what we’re doing, but we are going to take all this furniture. And I think all of our staff was like, what the? But we’ll direct operations and they’re like, OK, we can figure out a plan. We can rent trucks. We can do this. And it was our first big bulk pickup. And we picked up 5,000 units of furniture. Oh. That was all just going to go to the landfill. And so we were like, OK, this is like one college in Charlotte that is smaller. How many more?

Wow.

Colleges, universities, hotels, are there out there that are just dumping furniture? There’s getting rid of it and taking it to the landfill. There’s a lot is the answer. And so what we have found is we just need to educate these organizations and say, hey, like we, so what Beds for Kids does is during the summer when all of these like colleges, universities, they do this thing called turn and they’re getting rid of all this furniture. So we go out and we just drop 53 foot trailers at all of these colleges and universities around the US. And they fill them up. And then we ship them back to our warehouse. And it’s wild, but it has been so helpful. Like, last year alone, we received over 21,000 units of furniture. 17,000 of that was like bulk. Like we just got it from bulk sources. And so we have created a model where we’re able to say yes to 18 tractor trailers worth of furniture across two weeks. And that is, I mean, pure logistics, right? That is not, there’s little feel good in this other than the fact that we’re keeping it out of the landfill. So I really always have to like think through the business implications of that. Like what does that look like for the business of Beds for Kids and how do we continue to run this in a way that is a business with a heart? Because we want to continue to serve Charlotte, the Charlotte Metro as long as we can and do it well and be able to get to families within like two and a half weeks, which is what our current runtime is. So yeah, so we receive a lot of furniture from colleges, universities, and then also furniture companies. So one of our founding partners is Broad River Retail, which owns and operates the Ashley stores that are I mean, I know it’s North Carolina and South Carolina, but they have like, they’ve purchased out West. think they’re moving into the Northeast, but so Broadway retail is local to Charlotte. And they are financially and furniture wise, an incredible partner of ours. And we always lean on when we need contacts and how, how do we reach out to this person and find them? So really we couldn’t do this without them. They are, they definitely help us, help us out a lot. But we’ve kind of created our own model how we can do this and and we’re able to give people quality furniture in record time and keep it out of the landfill too.

I mean, it’s just multiple wins are happening. The bulk donations allow you to serve more families. You’re keeping huge amounts of furniture out of the landfills. It’s just a huge win. It’s actually also helpful to the universities who have to figure out how to dispose of this stuff because that’s also not easy.

And it’s also really funny because so many of these companies are like, so what’s the catch? I’m always like, I’m like, there’s no, he’s like, I’ve had multiple people tell me, this is too easy. Like you bring the 53 footer, we fill it up, we get to write it off. And I’m like, right.

You should also let them know you accept cash donations. Yes. If it so pulls at their heart.

That too, we’re like, we would always love for you to support our mission with a financial contribution. But it’s just kind of crazy. They’re like, what, there has to be a catch. And I’m like, I’m, there isn’t. Like, we just don’t want this to go to the landfill. Like three years old. Like it’s so, it’s not like 12 year old future. So it’s like, what are we doing here? Like, let it come to us. So it is, it’s an educational process and we’ve been having a ton of success. So we’re, really proud of that growth.

Well, obviously everything you’re doing could not happen without volunteers. How many people volunteer with Beds for Kids over, let’s just say a one year period?

Yeah. So last year we had a record number. We keep, we keep climbing every year, but last year was 3,400 volunteers. Yeah. There’s only 12 of us on full-time staff. So we’re small but mighty. But yeah, we need, we have to have those volunteers to make it happen. So volunteers are able to work in the warehouse. They’re able to go out on deliveries. mean, going out on deliveries is, I mean, my favorite thing. Getting to interact with your neighbors is just your neighbors and like helping them and serving them exactly and meeting them where they are. think it’s like incredibly important. But yeah, so we love our volunteers. I started as a volunteer.

Are you able to incorporate kids into volunteering? I know it’s tough to involve kids, but I’m envisioning everything you’re doing and thinking, gosh, I wish my kids could experience something like that. And I’m curious if, if logistically and legally and all the things, are you able to let kids volunteer?

So we have Family Serves. It’s kind of by request or it’s like if, you know, a large group comes to us and asks for it, we will put it together for them. So it’s more of like our custom volunteer opportunities, would say. But we do. It’s like two hours because we also recognize that attention spans are short. So we also bring donuts and have coloring sheets for them. And then they get to build like a bed or something in the warehouse. But it generally is it’s like two hours long, maybe an hour and a half, honestly, because it ends up with children wanting to play tag in the warehouse. My children have been included in that. But yeah, so we kind of are like, okay, and we’re done. We’ve reached our max. But so many parents love it because they’re like, my kids just don’t, they don’t, there’s not that many opportunities for kids to serve at a young age where they’re able to like really do something with their hands. And so I think we do have that and it’s really turned out to be a big win, like so many of our families love to come in and be able to serve in our warehouse and share with their kids about our organization. And we actually had a staff member write a book about furniture poverty. So we do have that available too, which has been pretty successful. So people will read the book. And it’s all about like furniture pieces kind of coming to life and going on a delivery to someone’s home. So it’s really cute. So she’s done that. And that’s been a really nice addition to a lot of like our children’s programming.

I love that you’re able to do children’s programming because as a child, I’d mentioned this to you before, but I got to go into the homeless shelter, our local homeless shelter when I was a child and do various things through connecting to through the two then through my parents. And it really stuck with me, the things I saw and not that I really was contributing that much, but just feeling like I was doing something and realizing that people can make a difference. And we did one Thanksgiving, this organization’s no longer around here in Charlottesville, but where my kids got to go pack Thanksgiving grocery bags for families. And it was very well organized. They had this assembly line and each kid like you might be the one putting the soup in the bag. And so it was really well laid out. And this was years ago and my kids still talk about it and they were little. And they were taken aback about how much food there was. And they said, there’s that many families who couldn’t buy Thanksgiving dinner. And so I think those small moments, and we were probably there an hour and a half, two hours, we were not there that long. I think those moments are really powerful as a parent to help kids realize that they could make a difference, that there is something you can do to help people in your community. So I love that you have found a way to incorporate children into what you do because I think it’s how we help the next generation make a difference.

It’s so true. I just think I always like volunteering to kind of a muscle. You have to kind of work it. It’s not going to just do its own thing. I truly believe that so many people have a servant heart that they just don’t even, they haven’t really accessed it. Because they don’t have time. They’re like, oh, I don’t have time to do this. don’t have time to do this and blah, blah, blah. You can make all the excuses in the world, and I definitely do that. So I don’t want people to think like, I mean, I would love to volunteer to ton of other organizations. But I’m like, well, I’m here five days a week volunteering in my mind, even though I get paid.

But I love the idea of your children having those memories. Because they’re going to, that’s core, right? That’s ingrained in them now. And they’re like, wow, there are people that don’t have the things that I have. And I just think that even that shift in perspective, it can be really small. But over time, as a seed, feel like it grows and it blossoms. And they’re like, I would love to give back more. And if they see you doing it as a parent, I feel like that’s also really powerful, right? Parents care about this. And we’re part of a family and we should all care about it. I think it’s crucial to, I mean, honestly, society. Like if we’re gonna continue, like you said, the next generation, they’re gonna see it because it’s modeled through us, right?

Totally. Well, if someone listening is in the Charlotte area and feels moved to get involved, how can they do that?

So they can go to bedsforkids.org, that’s B-E-D-S-F-O-R-K-I-D-S.org, and they can email our info account, INFO, at bedsforkids.org, and we will set them up with a volunteer opportunity, if they have furniture to donate, if they wanna financially donate, they can do that right on this website. But yes, we’re always welcoming new people to our organization because we, like I said, volunteers power our mission.

I love it. And for people who are listening who are not in the Charlotte area who are just impressed by all that you’re doing, can you break down how financial donations can impact the organization? So what can $100 do? What can $250 do? What can $1,000 do? Let us know how a financial gift could help.

Yes, so $100, that’s going to be a new crib for a baby. $250, that’s a new twin bed. That includes the frame, any of the box springs and mattresses that go with it. $1,000, that’s what we use to furnish a home. Like it takes us about $1,000 for us to not only find the furniture, pack the truck, deliver it in the truck, pay the people who deliver the furniture, but that’s what that $1,000 can do. And so, you know, I always say like, that’s how we kind of build our budget each year. We’re like, all right, if we’re going to serve 1,400 families, know, like that’s how we have a $1.4 million budget or like 1,500 families. It’s like it costs us around $1,000 for each family all in with everything that we do so.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And we will definitely share links for people in the show notes. This has been so great. Thank you so much for the work that you do, for the work that your team does. And thank you to all of your volunteers who are doing something that’s life changing for all of the families you work with. So again, we’ll share links in the show notes to your organization and people can get more involved. So thanks for joining me. This has been fantastic.

Yes, same. Thank you. It’s been so lovely getting to know you and I’m just thankful that you also are out there helping people learn more about sleep and also just how to get good sleep and how to get those babies and young children to sleep.

Well, to everyone listening this week as we talk about the importance of sleep, let’s remember that sometimes thriving begins with something as simple and as essential as a bed. Alright Lauren, thanks again. Bye for now.

Thank you.