Bed-making nonprofit chapter leaders look to pass roles on
NEW SEWICKLEY TWP, Beaver County — After starting a chapter of an international nonprofit in Mars as a retirement project, an area husband and wife are looking to hand over the reins as they approach their 80s.
Ed and Elaine Snyder founded the Mars Chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace in 2020. Since then, they have kept hundreds of children within 35 minutes of the borough from sleeping on the floor or couch by providing beds and accessories.
Co-presidents of the chapter alongside David Nock, the Snyders say a prospective heir to the position could have an easy transition into the role thanks to the work the three have already done. Sleep in Heavenly Peace rents space from Hosanna Industries in New Sewickley Township, and the Snyders have built a base of donors and volunteers who help regularly.
“We have people who pay $50, $100 a month, so we have enough to pay the rent,” Elaine said. “Anyone coming in who would want to do it, they wouldn't have to fundraise right away.
“It would be a shame to just let it die.”
Sleep in Heavenly Peace started in 2012 in Twin Falls, Idaho, when Luke Mickelson made a bed for someone who needed one and used leftover wood to build a second one that he offered to someone who needed it. The number of responses he got asking for a bed, and even offers to help, kick-started the initiative to provide beds to more people, namely children ages 3 to 17. The organization now has more than 300 chapters in four countries.
The Snyders know what it’s like to take up a nonprofit on somewhat of a whim. Neither of them had ever worked in the nonprofit sector before getting involved with Sleep in Heavenly Peace. They had to learn how to raise money, build a volunteer base and, most importantly, how to assemble beds to be used by people in need.
They signed up after their daughter-in-law told them about the nonprofit.
“We flipped a couple of houses and then we were bored again,” Elaine said of couple’s retirement projects. “I asked Ed about it and he just said, 'Yeah, OK, let's do it.' A month later we were in Idaho.”
The Snyders and Nock deliver the beds themselves — a tall order for a couple in their 70s — while volunteers help assemble the beds on “build days,” held when enough beds have been requested.
Ed said the chapter receives the most bed requests from Butler and the surrounding area, where homes often have several stories and tight hallways the deliverers have to navigate to get the beds in place. That’s not to mention that many houses sit atop hills.
“The most I've counted was 39 steps just to get to the house and then a dozen or so to go up to the second floor,” Ed said. “I carry them up. I bang them off the walls.”
“It's too much now,” Elaine Snyder added. “We need somebody to carry the beds up the steps. There's so many steps.”
The beds are all made from kits provided by Sleep in Heavenly Peace, complete with roll-up mattresses, which can also be bought from the international nonprofit. The Snyders have to pay for the materials, but the organization provides instructions on how to assemble them and they pass that on to volunteers who help on build days.
All told, it costs between $250 and $300 for the nonprofit to provide a bed for someone. But Elaine said the Mars chapter has received big donations along with recurring donations, notably from Rotary Clubs.
While the beds are less expensive than a typical child’s bed — and free for the clients who get them — Elaine said they are meant to take the burden off people who may not be able to afford one otherwise or are going through an emergency.
“’I just got divorced, left my husband, we don't have anything,’” Elaine said, as an example of why someone might request a bed. “A lot of times it's, 'My house was roach-infested and I had to move,' and they leave everything. Bedbugs, those are big things.”
People can submit a request for a bed or beds to their nearest chapter. The Snyders personally review each request they receive. Elaine follows up by calling the prospective client to learn more about their situation.
There are no income requirements for a person to get a bed but Elaine said she calls to vet a person.
“I will call them and say, ‘The kind of houses we usually deliver to are not an upscale house,’” Elaine Snyder said. “We only have a certain number of beds and we want to make sure they go to the people who really need them.”
The Mars chapter is the only Sleep in Heavenly Peace operation in Western Pennsylvania and only one of three in the entire state.
Ed Snyder said it was difficult to start a chapter when they started the Mars chapter in 2020. They had to pay for a trip to Idaho to meet with the national organization’s leaders and get the information necessary for raising money as a nonprofit, building beds and working with clients.
He said a person who takes over the chapter may have to go through the same training, but they have raised enough money to fund a person’s trip.
People who volunteer on build days just need a crash course on bed-making. On build days, volunteers arrive in the morning to share in coffee and doughnuts and everyone gets a name tag before learning to make a bed. The chapter gets help from women’s clubs, Rotary clubs and Scouts, who will often attend a build day as part of a group community service project.
The build days can be pretty productive.
“We've built as many as 40 beds in one day,” Ed said.
According to Elaine, the couple will continue to help with builds if someone takes over the nonprofit.
“It is just getting too hard for us to continue this mission on our own,” Elaine Snyder said. “We would like to stay active in the organization but handling the whole operation has gotten to be too much for us.”
The Snyders have received several messages regarding their pending retirement from Sleep in Heavenly Peace from people they have given beds to over the past five years. According to Elaine Snyder, the chapter has delivered 697 beds to 352 families since its founding in 2020, so a lot of people know the couple.
Cheryl Sallade, of Ambridge, said the nonprofit made a difference in her son’s sleeping conditions.
“It meant so much for my son to get one,” Sallade said. “He loves it and loves the comforter set. Hope this place continues with business for those in need.”
John Lowe, of Rochester, in Beaver County, also said the nonprofit made a difference in the lives of himself and his two children. He said he hopes to see someone take on the leadership of the local Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter so more people can receive its benefits.
“They're living angels whose charity and grace blessed them with beds for our apartment,” Lowe said. “When Mrs. Elaine contacted me and told me they were no longer going to be able to continue with their mission I was saddened … they will truly be missed.”
For more information on the Mars chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, visit its Facebook page or its website at shpbeds.org/chapter/pa-mars.
Elaine Snyder said people can also email her for more information at elaine.snyder@shpbeds.org.
