Ravens Build Beds for Kids With None

A Benedictine College engineering professor and students have been serving the Atchison, Kansas, community that surrounds the campus — by making beds for children who have none.

The program was described in a report in The Leaven, the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas.

“What most people don’t realize is how big the need is,” Dr. Patrick O’Malley told the paper. “It’s kind of a hidden problem in Atchison. You never really see it — kids having to share a bed.”

Around 70 volunteers participated in the last build day at Benedictine College. The college works with the organization “Sleep in Heavenly Peace,” a group founded by Luke Mickelson, who joined in the last build day at the college.

Afterwards, he told Gregorian Fellows about his work. He said the organization began with a 2012 Facebook post looking for those in his Twin Falls, Idaho, hometown who needed beds.

“The need is really great,” O’Malley told The Leaven. With all the new space in Benedictine’s engineering building, building beds was something we could get into pretty easily,” O’Malley said.

The college’s 100,000-square foot Westerman Hall project was designed to be America’s finest small-college STEM building. It includes 11 full Engineering labs for the college’s four Engineering programs: Mechanical, Civil, Chemical and Electrical.

The building’s shop has space for many volunteers to help build beds.

Learn more at The Leaven or by watching the local news report above.