Pictured from left: Bros. Fred Gomez, Michael Oakes, and Jarrod Olsen of Lansing 33, Tim Hines of Brookfield #439, and John Kmetz of Grand Ledge #179.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace is an organization that builds and delivers beds and bedding to children in need. Their motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town!”
The organization has quickly grown to over 250 chapter nationwide and in Canada, including ten in Michigan.
Brother Jarrod Olsen of Lansing Lodge #33 is the President of the Lansing Chapter of SHP. “I was in the process of building bunkbeds for my own girls in February of 2018 and came across an episode of ‘Returning the Favor with Mike Rowe’ while scrolling through Facebook one night,” Bro. Olsen said.” “It featured Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which at the time had eight chapters, all on the west coast. I went to their website and sent a message about starting a chapter in Michigan. Two months later I was in Idaho for training, along with someone from what is now the Western Wayne County chapter and we became the first two in Michigan.”
120 beds were built this past weekend, to go along with 40 that Lansing had already built. “120 will be delivered in the Lansing area with the other 40 to be distributed by the Western Wayne chapter in the metro Detroit area,” Olsen said.
The next build is scheduled for June 12th, which is SHP’s annual “Bunks Across America” build, in which every chapter nationwide has a build. The Lansing build will be at one of the two Lansing Lowes stores, still to be determined. “Both Lansing store managers want the build at their store,” Olsen said laughing. “They are a great supporter of the program and have been there since day one.”
If you would like to volunteer for the next build, contact Brother Olsen at 517-410-2525 or jarrod.olsen@shpbeds.org. Also, click here for a Fox News 47 story on last weekend’s build.
