Cedar Rapids parish helps provide beds for local children in need
CEDAR RAPIDS — St. Ludmila Parish has teamed up with Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), a charity with a Cedar Rapids/Marion branch that is dedicated to building beds for children who don’t have them.
One of the parish’s Lenten projects was to assist the local organization’s efforts. After reading about the organization in The Witness last fall, Father Ken Glaser, pastor of St. Ludmila, and Sharon Langenberg, parish coordinator, met with the chapter president of SHP and learned that it is estimated that 3,000 children in Linn County do not have a bed. The parish theme for Lent was “peace,” so parishioners found it very appropriate to select SHP as one of their Lenten projects.
“We held a bedding drive that included new, twin size bedding of mattress pads, sheets, comforters, and pillows,” stated Langenberg in an email to The Witness. “We also asked for monetary donations to build beds. Each bed is approximately $100 to build which includes the frame and the mattress.”
The organizers wanted this project to be very visible to all in the parish, so they set up an actual Sleep in Heavenly Peace bed in the parish gathering space and filled the area with the bedding donations.
As a result of this effort, the parish collected monetary donations totaling $12,142.12, which will build 121 beds, according to Langenberg. They also received 109 pillows, 126 mattress pads, 155 sets of sheets and 111 comforters.
“We are working with Sleep in Heavenly Peace to set our build days for this summer,” said Langenberg. “Parishioners will go to the SHP warehouse and construct the beds and then help with the delivery of beds to some of the recipients.”
Photo Caption:
The photo above shows some of the many donations St. Ludmila parishion-ers gave to Sleep in Heavenly Peace during Lent. The local charity helps children without beds. Parishioners will partner with the charity to build beds later this year. (Contributed photo)
