Warsaw Mayor Jeff Gross measures twice.

Text and Photos
By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note — This is a series focusing on local people and businesses we use every day without realizing their fascinating back-stories.

At 8 a.m. on a freezing Saturday morning, a crowd of shivering volunteers huddled in the Bowen Center parking lot with stacks of lumber and power tools.

The group was a microcosm of our community including volunteers from Bowen Center, realtors, judges, attorneys, the sheriff, the mayor, and even retirees.

Some of them, like contractor Charlie Wagner, knew their way around construction. Some of them, like a few I won’t name, had never held a hammer before. All of them were willing to freeze and learn in order to make beds for kids who had to sleep on the floor.

Why Do We Make Beds This Way?

Bowen Center Mike Murphy welcoming the crowd of volunteers.

“Let’s say it together,” Sleep in Heavenly Peace Kosciusko Director Becky Kiphart said through the bullhorn. “Our motto is No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in our Town!” The crowd said it back and she gave instructions.

SHP wants to provide beds, but also engage the community, so the bed-making process doesn’t follow the most efficient route of construction. “We want as many hands as possible to take part in this project,” Becky told us. “We aren’t in a hurry. We want to build quality beds, so take your time.”

The crowd dispersed, finding their way to various stations where red-shirted instructors showed them how to measure, drill, stain, or assemble.

Becky and her husband Rory founded the local chapter of SHP after hearing about the staggering need.

As he helped stain the wood near the end of the building process, Rory told me, “Becky heard that nationally 3% of kids don’t have beds. She figured that amounted to about 2,000 kids in Kosciusko. I said to her, ‘I can build a bed. Let’s find a way to help.’” So, they contacted SHP, got the training in Utah, and started a chapter here in Kosciusko.

How Did This Build Day Happen?

Volunteers at the beginning of the day with the stacks of wood.

Mike Murphy, senior director at the Bowen Center, conceived this particular build-day after he heard about a need in our community. He called SHP and found a way for Bowen Center to sponsor a corporate project build day.

Jay Baumgartner, CFO of Bowen, nodded proudly as he told me, “Mike Murphy spearheaded and did all the recruiting. He jumped right in.”

Bowen has grown to 1,200 staff including 10 counties with physical Bowen facilities. Bowen’s sponsorship, totaling $5,000 plus venue and volunteers, covers the entire cost of building and delivering 20 beds complete with mattresses, pillows, and sheets to a child having to sleep on the floor.

“I am still looking for a local mattress vendor partner for future Kosciusko build days,” SHP Director Becky told me. You can contact her or join the Bunkhead Club to donate cash through the website. Becky also wants to find a local location to hold a giant community-build.

Who Volunteered?

Attorney Antony Garza and Judge Karin McGrath volunteers.

There were many volunteers I didn’t speak with including many from Bowen Center itself. Some were busy sanding boards. Others wore masks and safety glasses to keep sawdust out.

Between the buzzing saws, whacking mallets, crackling fire, wind, and whooping volunteers, things stayed lively.

Madison Owens and her husband Trevor worked at the station positioning newly cut bed slats. Madison is a medical assistant for Bowen. When I asked her how she came to be helping, she answered, “I saw the email that Director Murphy sent out and thought that it sounded cool. I said to my husband, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s help.’”

CASA Director Erin Rowland paused working with her team to tell me how often they see needs in their work as Court Appointed Special Advocates for kids. She estimated that 25% of their children needed beds. “Sometimes kids are taken from their parents and suddenly given to relatives who aren’t prepared with beds and can’t afford to buy them.”

Mike Murphy and Kip Wyman wearing the SHP motto.

Mayor Jeff Grose worked at the station measuring wood. “The rumor is that I’m a little slow here.” He measured a second time. “But I have a great team that makes this work anyway.” Of course, people kept stopping by to chat with him and ask questions which didn’t help. “I love seeing neighbors saving neighbors this way,” Grose added. “We have to take people where they are and help them.”

Sheriff Jim Smith had a team with the drills. “There’s deep compassion in our department,” he told me earnestly. “It didn’t’ take any twisting of arms to get volunteers. We see the needs every single day.”

REMAX Results Jeff Owens and fellow Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club President Charlie Wagner came prepared with their own tool bags to the event. Owens eyed wood and discarded warped pieces with his team. “I’m just here to work hard,” he commented. “For the kids.”

Branding team from left are Linda Guisti, udge Karin McGrath and Antony Garza.

Judge Karin McGrath worked with Attorney Antony Garza, Prosecutor’s Office Victim’s Assistant Linda Guisti, and Caseworker Cindy Romine at the branding station. They heated irons red-hot and sizzling in a solo stove and put the SHP brand on the end of every bedhead. “I never thought I’d be working in an assembly line on a cold Saturday morning,” Garza said. “But it’s all for the kids!”

Judge McGrath, who often sees Children in need of Services cases in her courtroom, split discard wood to feed the stove and ruminated, “Getting people plugged into something where there’s a need is significant. I see photos every single day of kids sleeping in a corner with just a blanket.”

SHP Build Manager Rory Kiphart and his daughter Meghann and her husband Kyle Wyman worked at the most interesting station. They dipped the assembled pieces in a rusty red colored liquid. “It’s a mix of vinegar with steel wool,” Rory told me. “The vinegar helps to repel insects like bed bugs for the life of the wood.” The steel wool soaks in the vinegar for a day or so and rusts to create the lovely dull red color of the product.

Sheriff Jim Smth greets Mayor Jeff Grose before beginning to build.

As we ended with a successful 20-bed day, I circled back to a grinning Bowen Center Mike Murphy. “I prayed for a day with no rain,” Murphy chuckled as he helped move a stack of headboards. “Next time I’ll ask for it to be a little warmer and not so windy too.”

When I asked him to reflect upon the experience of building a bed that a child would use, he nodded. “We are about recovery and reestablishing families. These beds are a tangible thing that we can see and do in one day to help our community.”

If you’d like to help in a future build, SHP aims to complete two builds per month moving forward. Give Becky Kiphart a shout.

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