Sleep In Heavenly Peace

    Sometimes we just don't know how to help. 

   We know there are hurting people all around us. We hear about it on the news. We read about it in various papers, magazines, and on the Internet. 

   We know of organizations that are doing good.

   But just how do we make the transition from knowing about situations and doing something.

   For Carolyn and I, it was through an invite from a couple who were on the ground serving through the contribution of their time and their hands.

   Let me explain:

      Larry and Linda Williams have been friends with us for a lot of years, blessing our lives with their friendship and wise counsel. So when they speak, we listen. They told us about a hands-on project they were involved with here in the area. 

   Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a non profit whose goal it is to provide a bed for children who, for one reason or another, do not have the opportunity to sleep in a real bed. Chattanooga is one of 250 chapters of this organization around the country.

   On June 12th, in a Lowe's parking lot, we joined a group of volunteers who were using their hands and time making bunk beds. There must have been 40 or so people working as we drove up to the build site.

   Henry Ford must have rejoiced to see his assembly line ideas being put into practice for a good cause.

   Pallets of precut lumber formed the raw material. Two assembly lines moved the raw lumber from the pallets to the finished project. One line furnished the head and foot boards, the other the mattress frame.

   First the lumber was all sanded. Then it was moved, by hand, down each line.

   Carolyn and I worked on the head and foot boards. By the time it reached us in the line each piece had been stamped with the schematic for the screws and bolts. Then the larger holes were drilled for the larger bolts. Next came us, with the smaller drills to put in the holes for the screws.

   We handled 3 sizes of lumber on our line. They had been precut at the warehouse, so after the sanding and hole drilling, they were ready for assembly. Our assembly line put the headboards and footboards together and line #2 did the side rails.

   Right in the middle of this construction work, a quick hard shower erupted over our area. By the time we got to the sanding tent, half of our two man team was soaked and the other was in the car. Couldn't get much wetter so I just went back to work. (I am pictured behind the man in the light blue shirt toward the right side of the shot, expertly drilling away).

  Two more line spots finished the work for this morning. Next the assembled parts were coated with a liquid and passed on to be loaded on a trailer that would take them to the warehouse where they would be stored . 

   As needed, a delivery crew comes to the warehouse, gathers up the components, beds and linens, takes them to the recipient family, puts the bed together in the child's room, and the floor loses an inhabitant.

   This well-organized project put together the components for 106 bunk beds, and that many children will be smiling with their own bed and fixings before long. 

   Makes you feel good...