Community Impact: Sleep in Heavenly Peace

After a long, stressful day of school, practice, rehearsal, and homework, what’s the one thing that kids can always return to as their safe haven? Their bed! A child’s bed is a foundation of support, stability, and reassurance that every day will be a new day. However, nearly 3% of all children in the United States (that’s between 1.5 to 2 million kids) don’t have their own bed to sleep in. Whether that means sleeping on the floor, sharing a bed with another individual, or surfing on the couch, 3% of all children in the US don’t get to have that security of their own bed at night.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a national organization that started in 2012 with Luke Mickelson at a youth group during Christmas Time. Mickelson was surrounded by the question: “What are we getting this Christmas?” However, he couldn’t help but offer another perspective: “What can we give this Christmas?” Mickelson heard of a family in need of some beds for their children, in which he and a group built and delivered them. Afterwards, they saw they still had more lumber and decided to keep building for more individuals in need.

Mickelson and his team created the first chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace out in Twin Falls, Idaho but grew out to more and more chapters over time. In 2018, internet sensation Mark Rowe did a feature on Sleep In Heavenly Peace on his program Returning the Favor, which made the organization go viral. At the time, they had around 40 active chapters. Today they have 420 nationwide, in Canada, and even a few in the Bahamas. One of which is here in White County.

In 2024, the Brookston Chapter of Sleep In Heavenly Peace was opened by Chapter President, Dave Doles. Dave heard of a chapter opening by his friend, Norm Flake, in South Pittsburg, Tennessee and was so inspired that he wanted to bring that same mission back to White County and help the mental wellness of so many. In an interview with the Community Foundation of White County, Doles recalls hearing his friend Norm tell him about Sleep In Heavenly Peace, and Dave jumped to saying “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.”

Dave and a group of individuals went to a national training in June of 2024, taking their skills and knowledge into September with their first build. They built 26 beds for 26 different children and delivered them the next month. After the success of the first build with their organization staff, their next build became a community build where individuals from all over could come together and help the children of White County.

Builds and deliveries are the primary and exclusive program of Sleep In Heavenly Peace. Individuals and families apply to have a bed delivered to them for their child, aged 3-17, and they get delivered in weeks. The organization prides itself on giving a child a brand new bed, often offering a bundle where the kids get a free mattress and bedding. Volunteers build all of the materials for the beds at Erikson Farms in Brookston and then assemble them when they deliver the beds to the homes. When they deliver the beds, they assemble them and put them together right then and there for the families so the kids can sleep in the beds that very same night.

The Brookston chapter’s number one priority when they began was to encompass all school systems in White County. After achieving that goal, they were able to expand out to some areas in Tippecanoe County, some in Carroll County, and all of West Lafayette. 

After two years of work, the Brookston Chapter has helped 175 children sleep in their own beds. Chapter President Doles says that this is a growing cause and they try everything they can to fight against it, “It’s huge for mental wellness for a child.” He says “In 2025, we delivered ninety-nine beds. And I tell people that and they’re like: ‘There are ninety-nine kids in White County that didn’t have their own bed?’ I’m like yeah! And we’re still delivering to White County!”

Sleep In Heavenly Peace is so proud of the work they’ve been able to do for their community, as well as proud of their partnerships and collaboration with all the organizations that assist them along the way. They are extremely grateful for all of the support they receive from organizations, some of which are Knights of Columbus, Lowes, the Faith Covenant Church, and the Community Foundation of White County.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace has received two $5,000 Mental Wellness Grants on behalf of the Community Foundation of White County, once in 2024 and another in 2025. Those funds were utilized in the building and delivering process for the program. 

Sleep in Heavenly Peace identifies that on average, the cost to build and furnish the bed, costs of tools and supplies, and delivery comes out to around $250 a bed. With the two $5,000 grants awarded from the Community Foundation, those funds went to put at least 40 kids in beds. Because of your Community Foundation, at least 40 kids now have a safe haven to call their own.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace, nationally, is able to reach 100 million people, but they strive every day to reach out more to the other 70% of the population. They do such incredible work for the benefits of children all across the country. The Brookston Chapter here in White County represents that sentiment thoroughly. As their efforts grow more and more, together we can all assure, as Doles says, “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town.”