You Can Help Solve Child Bedlessness: The Story Behind "Sleep in Heavenly Peace"

Our Daily Show Interview! Getting to Know: Luke Mickelson- Founder: Sleep in Heavenly Peace

ALTON - Sleep in Heavenly Peace has grown into an international organization with an Alton chapter, and its founder is focused on what they can do next.

Luke Mickelson founded Sleep in Heavenly Peace over a decade ago to solve child bedlessness. The organization builds beds and delivers them to children in the community. Alton’s local chapter is expanding, and with over 440 chapters in 48 states and four countries, Mickelson is proud of how they’ve grown and more determined than ever to solve this issue.

“It’s one of those topics where, when you first hear it, you almost dismiss it. Child bedlessness — I don’t know that it sinks in,” Mickelson said. “You don’t really pause enough and take enough time to think, wait a minute, did you just say they’re sleeping on the floor? That was my experience. I didn’t know child bedlessness was a real thing. But it’s a real problem.”

When Mickelson learned of a local family in his small Idaho town who needed beds for their children, he decided his church’s boys’ group would help. He led the boys through the process of building a bed and delivering it to this family. Not only was it important for the family in need, but it also gave the boys’ group a sense of purpose.

“I was really shocked. It almost made me mad at first. This is going on in my hometown? Heck no,” Mickelson remembered. “I thought, you know what, here’s a great opportunity to get an Xbox controller out of these boys’ hands and put a drill or some tools and teach them how to build a bed. I had never built one before, but I’m a farm kid. We’ll figure it out. And that’s what we did.”

After that first bed, Mickelson wanted to share the experience with his own children. He worked with his kids to build another bed, and a friend connected him to a single mom with a 6-year-old daughter named Hailey who had never slept in a bed before. The mother-daughter duo had been experiencing homelessness but recently found their first house.

Mickelson arrived at the house with the bed and was “shocked” when he realized Hailey had been sleeping on a pile of clothes on the floor. As they began to install the bed, Hailey “erupted” with joy and hugged and kissed the bed.

The experience was humbling for Mickelson, but it also pushed him to commit to the Sleep in Heavenly Peace mission. The more he learned about child bedlessness, the more he was convinced that he needed to help find a solution.

“I tell everybody, listen, just stop for a minute and just contemplate and think. What would it be like as a kid, a small kid like that or even a teenager, not to sleep in a bed?” he said. “You’re waking up sore and grumpy. You’re not ready for school and you’re not ready to make good friends and you’re going to get bad grades and there’s always an attitude issue. That’s just the physical side of things. You look at the psychological, the emotional side of things, the social side. These kids can’t have sleepovers. They’re going to their friend’s house, and their friend not only has a bed but they have freaking throw pillows. It’s just one of those things where, psychologically, that can’t help.”

As the Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization grew and more chapters popped up across the United States, Mickelson discovered that it was also a great experience for the volunteers. People who wanted to give back suddenly had the opportunity, and they were eager to be a part of the builds.

On a national level, Sleep in Heavenly Peace will build their 400,000th bed this year. Mickelson is proud of how the organization has grown and eager to welcome more chapters as people learn about child bedlessness. He encourages people to check out the Alton chapter’s webpage to learn more about getting involved or requesting assistance locally.

He added that, on a personal level, he was experiencing a crisis of faith when he first started building beds. But the development of Sleep in Heavenly Peace has helped him to answer some of his questions. Most importantly, no matter what faith you subscribe to, the Sleep in Heavenly Peace mission aims to help the community. This, he believes, is the most important part.

“It doesn't matter what religion you believe in or what God you believe in or what God you don’t believe in,” he added. “The fact that you’re helping kids receive a bed — I don’t care what God you believe in. That’s the right thing to do.”

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