With love in their hearts and power tools in their hands, the volunteers at Building Beds have made a difference for 3,670 children in need throughout Pinellas County. Since its inception in 2014 by BridgePoint Church’s founding pastor, Tim Whipple, and his wife, Donna, Building Beds is a volunteer-led initiative that has served our community by providing beds for local families in need.
The Need
Approximately 7,000 children in Pinellas County don’t have beds. The organization’s goal is to one day see that every child in the county has their own bed. Many of the families being served are transient, having lived in hotels or group homes and recently secured housing. They may be financially needy or sharing spaces with no beds of their own. Some are foster families, families struggling to keep their children out of the foster system to stay together, or those who otherwise do not have access to much-needed resources. Building Beds partners with local case workers, schools, and social work agencies that help identify and refer families in need.
Building Community
Throughout the year, around 100 volunteers gather for about three hours on a Saturday afternoon at the workshop for “Build Days” to construct up to 200 beds at a time. They are put together with the help of premade templates for each piece of southern yellow pine to result in a perfectly fitting, sturdy bed frame. These volunteers do much more than build, as many of them go on the deliveries with an experienced team leader who has met the families and received permission to enter their homes. Missions coordinator Melanie Benner said: “Building Beds volunteers meet each family exactly where they’re at, and we want to make sure we are respectful of their space during deliveries, take the time to hear their stories and offer words of encouragement or prayers. It’s a really special opportunity to get to step into their homes and see the kids help with making their new beds.
“We’ve had multiple volunteers who have met with these families and after hearing their stories, stayed in touch going forward and were able to help them using their own resources and connections.”
In the truest sense of uplifting the community, “these families get care from our volunteers in any capacity they can, and we do our best to fulfill their emotional, spiritual, and tangible needs.”
An Uplifting Delivery
Deliveries happen every other Saturday to accomplish Building Beds’ goal of serving as many families in Pinellas County as possible. The hope is to further grow the program by adding more resources for family outreach, gaining more volunteers for extra hands on deck, and educating the community by adding exposure to the cause. With such an important focus, involvement is always welcome.
“You receive so much joy from the families,” Benner said, “and it’s a great reminder that we are all human and are all here to lift each other up when we can.”
You can contribute to empowering these families and find Building Beds at BuildingBeds.org. There you’ll find a contact form to be used for getting in touch regarding volunteer opportunities, sponsorships or fundraising, as well as an online application for caseworkers to send in referrals, and for families to fill out requests to receive a bed. Donations are received in the form of items such as bedding supplies, pillows, paint, wood, or construction supplies, or as a financial contribution through the “Donate to Building Beds” button that leads directly to a PayPal portal.
