Group of Winnipeggers builds beds for kids in need

WINNIPEG -

Thirty Winnipeg kids will soon have brand new beds of their own.

Students from Tec-Voc High School, employees from Cadorath and Babcock, and volunteers came together on Thursday to build beds for kids in need.

Over the past year, the group fundraised for supplies for 30 twin-sized beds, including bedding and pillows. Then, on Thursday, they got to work building the bed frames.

“I think as an organization it’s really important for us to be giving back to the community here,” said David Haines, COO of Cadorath,

“I think we all see what’s needed and I think COVID has even brought that out more to the forefront lately.”

Once the beds are built, the group Sleep in Heavenly Peace -- a non-profit charity dedicated to building and delivering handmade beds, new mattresses, and bedding to local kids -- will distribute and install the 30 beds.

Jim Thiessen, the president of the Winnipeg chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, said these beds will go to kids who don’t have beds to sleep on.

“In Winnipeg, it’s a huge problem,” he said.

“We estimate that there is about two to three per cent of the child population in Winnipeg that doesn’t have a bed. Here in Winnipeg, that means 3,000 to 4,000 children don’t have a bed to sleep on.”