'No kid sleeps on the floor in our town'
MARS — Ed and Elaine Snyder, of Mars, are doing their part to help children sleep easier.
At a time in life when most couples are enjoying some well-earned rest or spending lots of time with grandchildren, retirees Ed and Elaine Snyder are spending their days sanding wood, pounding nails, organizing volunteer groups and soliciting donations.
The Snyders recently started the Mars Chapter of the national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), when they learned of an acute need for beds for children. They build beds for children ages 3 through 17 who don't have a bed to sleep in.
“We get bored easily,” said Elaine Snyder. “We flipped two houses and did some charity work. Our son and his wife, Shawn and Jackie Snyder, are involved in Sleep in Heavenly Peace in Maryland. They decided this is something for the old folks.”
The couple solicited the assistance of their friend, Dave Nock, of Cranberry Township, who leads the Mars Chapter with them.
They have a motto: “No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town.”
The group recently staged a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the warehouse it is renting from Hosanna Industries at Hosanna's facility on 109 Rinard Lane in Rochester, Beaver County, and had their first bed-building day.Fifteen volunteers sanded, screwed and assembled 14 twin beds.Once they put the word out, it was officially open for business. It took less than 24 hours to receive two requests for beds, Snyder said.“It's hard for us, who sleep comfortably every night and have the things we need and want, to imagine that there are kids sleeping on the floor,” said Snyder. “But it happens every night and not that far from your home or ours. There are lots of poor and single-parent families who are struggling.“Before Children & Youth Services places a child with a relative or with foster parents, they must have a bed for that child to sleep in, and that magnifies just how important a bed is to the well-being and stability of a child,” she said.
According to numbers collected by the national Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization, roughly 2% to 3% of American children are without beds.“It's hard for visions of sugar plums to dance in a little girl's head when she's sleeping on a cold floor,” said SHP's Regina Brett. “It's hard for a little boy to sleep in heavenly peace on a saggy living-room couch.”Too many end up sleeping on the floor, on a couch or in a chair, night after night. Every child deserves a bed. It's a basic need,” Brett said.The beds are assembled from pine, which is sanded down, then stained in a solution of vinegar and steel wool that turns the wood brown.Snyder said beds are assembled at the homes of the recipients.The beds, complete with mattress, sheets, blanket, comforter and pillow, are free to any qualifying family.They delivered their first beds to two families and got five children off the floor to sleep.“When we deliver a bed, and you see an empty room with a bunch of blankets in the corner, it breaks your heart, ”said Snyder.“We don't have any storage area, so we have to get rid of some beds before we have another bed day,” she said.
The volunteers don't take special orders — all beds are twin-bed size. Each bed costs between $200 and $250 to assemble, although Snyder said the cost of wood continues to climb.The Mars chapter has to raise its own funds. Donation bins for bedding are at Salon Bella in Seven Fields and the two Sherwin-Williams stores in Cranberry Township.“I'm amazed at the number of people who want to help,” she said.Snyder said people needing more information, wanting to donate or volunteer or requesting a bed should visit www.shpbeds.org/chapter/pa-mars.The Snyders can be reached via email at elaine.snyder@shpbeds.org.
