Build day constructs 20 beds for kids – Alton Telegraph

ALTON — Sleep in Heavenly Peace IL, Alton, hosted a build day event on Feb. 29 at its warehouse location in Alton.

The sponsor for the event was State Farm Agent Chris Erwin who also is the head coach of the Father McGivney varsity baseball team. Erwin combined his company sponsoring with a team-building service project for his baseball team, Over three hours, 56 volunteers constructed 20 beds for local kids in need.

“This was a wonderful experience in many different ways,” Erwin said. “As a local business owner, it is very important for us to be immersed in the community in which we serve. I was born and raised in this community and I have a deep passion for seeing this community help one another and thrive.

“As the head baseball coach at Father McGivney, my role is not to just teach these young men the game of baseball but rather prepare them to be exceptional citizens in whichever community they settle in to with their families later in life,” he said. “Our build day with Sleep in Heavenly Peace was a great way for both the teams at Chris Erwin State Farm and Father McGivney High School Baseball to come closer together and understand there is a greater good out there.

“Hopefully we were able to play a small role in making life a little better for children in our community,” he said.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace IL, Alton is a local chapter of the nationwide Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization that now has 232 chapters in three countries. Chapter President Jason Brunaugh started the local chapter in January. Since then the chapter has built 48 beds and delivered 14 to kids in need.

“It was a great day!” said Brunaugh. “We are very blessed to have so many local business owners and members of the community like Chris and his family that have supported us from the start in January.

“This event is a great start to what we are hoping to be a regular monthly occurrence,” he said. “We are looking to have local small businesses and organizations sponsor a build day once per month. This will help us build our inventory of beds up to a level needed to keep up with the demand we have for bed requests.

“Without business owners like Chris and volunteers like the team from Father McGivney we would not be able to meet our goal to build 400 beds this year,” he said.

The next open volunteer build days are scheduled 9 a.m. to noon on March 21, April 25 and June 13. For more details, visit https://www.facebook.com/SHPAlton/ Website https://www.shpbeds.org/chapter/il-alton or email Jason.brunaugh@shpbeds.org.