Posted by Leigh Carpenter on May 30, 2018
Leigh Ann & Chris share highlights from Sleep In Heavenly Peace 
Guest: Leigh Ann Crimmings, a Concord Rotarian and a member of non-profit Sleep In Heavenly Peace.  Joined by partner Chris Alphen.

Mary’s Updates
  • Welcome to new member, Trudy
  • Mary & Rich went to homeless shelter for Veterans in Boston along with members from Weston-Wayland Club.  A privilege to be there.  Meals are cooked at Pine Street Inn and brought over.
  • Food packaging was a huge success!  Thanks, Chris for your coordination
  • DogFest de-brief meeting soon – will learn amount raised.  The student of Mary’s who designed the logo will be presented to her as 8th grade Move Up Day.
  • Fabulous Repair Café in Sudbury with 70 customers.  Event was written up in local paper and great momentum is building.  Great job to Senior Center and to Howard. 
  • Framingham Rotarians are interested in getting one going too.  Steve Sager is looking to get Weston-Wayland involved.  Hopkinton interest as well.
  • CARL WALKED IN!!!!!!!
  • Scholarships being awarded soon at Nashoba Regional & Tech School
  • June 14th Installation for Jacky @ her home at 6pm.  Please bring wine or beer, and an appetizer
  • Ayer Club has been involved with student exchange (15 yr old from Australia) who has been here since January, and staying until January.  Harvard couple is looking for homes for him to stay while they are away (June 1-2; June 8-9; June 15-16 & first two weeks in July)
  • Ray shared that bike workshop with before school kids might be rescheduled for early June.  Focus on safety.  Stay tuned from Ray. 
  • Club Assembly last week was focused on Visioning update.  Visioning committee captured everything that got the most votes in November and then categorized by urgent/not urgent (see details from 5/17 minutes).  
  • Looking for someone to Coordinate speakers each month moving forward (each person to take a month).  Email out to someone with request to coordinate 
  • Carolyn met with Interact Coordinator at the High School (Diane) and learned of a new activity.  Over the next couple of weeks will meet at libraries for technology training with seniors through Council On Aging's in the 3 towns
 
Happy/Sad
  • Carol is getting excited about Concord work space & got a new customer 
  • Chris helped out with Boy Scouts bike trip on the Cape, next weekend he will be helping  at Best Buddies Challenge event
  • Trudy is glad to be here 
  • Last Saturday, Laura presented People of Action at conference in Plymouth.  She made sure to have everything in computer bag but ... left bag at home!  Luckily she added it to Dropbox and was able to access it from someone else's laptop.  Thrilled it's Memorial Day weekend and looking forward to relaxing.  Headed to Chicago, Indiana, Ohio & Toronto! 
  • Howard shared that high school students were at Sudbury Repair Cafe and were great - happy that he and Ellen put together a trip to Dublin & England to see uncle
  • Carolyn is happy Amelia came, she is happy to be attending RYLA.  Today was senior's last day at school (happy or sad?).
  • Don is happy that "Mount McPherson" is diminished with a mini moved to his house, Wings & Wheels is continuing with Westford Club, sad that they miss our Club and hope we visit to enjoy it
  • Ron is bittersweet daughter's last day this week, happy pool is open, and happy that Nature Connections event was a success 
  • Ray is glad to see Carl.  Sad that his father-in-law passed away but had a nice family celebration in New York
  • Nancy enjoyed her birthday 
  • Cheryl happy to be here today and enjoyed hearing about our club
  • Rich welcomed Carl back and excited that they're replacing carpeting with hardwood.  Mary found a store in Brockton (where his daughter lives) with a great price!
  • Mary is happy to be here.  She had a beautiful day with ladies from Tower Hill yesterday at Honeywell in Wellesley.  Excited for Jacky who will be a fabulous president 
  • Carol is an Incorporator at Emerson and is doing their walk in June.  Welcomes sponsors.
 
Speaker  

Sleep in Heavenly Peace motto is "no kid sleeps on the floor in our town".  She and Chris are working on this mission in MA through their simple business model: build and deliver bunk beds, and raise the money (approx $300/bed).  It is a great service project for Rotary Clubs and getting the community involved.
 
Shared a story about a mother who was paying for a rental bed but eventually was unable to afford the payments.  Her son was very upset but delivering the bed was amazing!  He helped build and enjoyed being a part of the process.
 
SHP was featured on Returning The Favor (show by Mike Rowe)
 
They learned of the programs to feed and education children, but there are many who sleep on the floor which causes chronic health problems.  One hurdle is that it is difficult to know how many kids in our area are not sleeping in beds due to the stigma associated with it.  It is an easily hidden problem.  There is potential that by looking at the number of hungry, there is a connection to not having a bed.  They will work with schools, domestic violence networks, and others to have applications available.  (Our club suggested the home goods assistance in Acton, Habitat For Humanity, Siesta Sleepworks in Acton & school social workers). 
 
Working with a manufacturer for mattresses in Idaho for $50 (includes shipping), along with providing sheets & pillows.  The mattress come tightly sealed up so that store easily and helps with delivery to family.
 
Fundraisers underway: paint night last week, yoga (June 16th) in Lowell.  Build days can be taken on the road in addition to being done large scale on sites.  Looking to have a Rotary Build Day throughout the District.  Sleep In Heavenly Peace will be featured/publicized during their clubs' Octoberfest.