Furniture Bank of Metro Detroit launches $250 bed challenge

The Furniture Bank of Metro Detroit tackling bed poverty this holiday season, and they're challenging you, yes, you, the community, to help out. The nonprofit has launched its $250 Beds for Kids Challenge. The goal? Raise $250,000 by December 31st, providing warm, comfortable beds for children in need. Diane Charles, thank you. Furniture Bank CEO and President here with me. I mean, this has been an ongoing effort for you guys. Talk about the need because I think this is one of those things that are underestimated for sure. Right, we all know about food poverty, but people don't realize there's a bed poverty here. issue in Detroit, and there are 20,000 children who will go to sleep tonight without their own bed. They'll sleep with family members, they'll sleep on the sofa, and sometimes on the floor. Now, just to give you a visual of that, that would be like filling Little Caesars Arena. Wow. That's a lot of kids. Too many. One too many, right? Right, right. So talk about, one, how the community can help, because this is an ongoing drive that you guys do, but an engaging one, and it doesn't take a lot to help out. For $250, we can... Provide a child with a brand new Serta mattress, which is produced locally by Serta Rustercraft in Romulus, a foundation, and brand new pillow, sheets, and comforter. And so for $250, that buys one bed. Wow. And that to me makes all the difference in the world. I mean, yes, toys are great, but this is going to last with a child for years to come. And it impacts them physically, emotionally, and developmentally. I mean, we talk about all the time how much sleep is important, you know, and proper healthy sleep, just especially, you know, kids that young as they're developing. I mean, too, but I mean, who doesn't want to come home and see a nice fluffy bed, you know, customize pillows and comforters? And a bed is not just a place to sleep. For a child, it's a safe place. It's their own space. And we want to give them this space so they can dream all the dreams they can dream. I love that. About the impact, because I know you guys have helped, I mean, thousands of families at this point. That feedback and that reaction, you know- It's the best. It's the best. I'm just going to give you a quick little story. One day, a child comes and his mom says, you're going to get a new bed. He's so excited. We deliver the bed to his house at two o'clock in the afternoon. The guy set it up and the little boy is about seven years old and he tugs on the driver's pants and he said, mister, can I go to bed now? Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow. It's a real impact. So here's the challenge. So we'd love to have donations for each individual of $250. But if somebody wants to take on the lead, they could raise $2,500. Okay. So that's by going on social media and saying, give me $25, give me $25. And all of a sudden, you're at $2,500. If we got 100 people to do that. That doesn't sound unreasonable, I mean honestly, and we're in the giving season, what better way to give back? Right, exactly. Wow. And it's an impact that really will last for a generation. Yeah, I mean, we touched on that in terms of the impact, food insecurity and things like that. But even right now, so many families struggling, I mean gas, bills, it mounts a lot. Yes. One mother came in last week and said, I feel like a bad mom, but I don't have the money to do this. And you have to choose between food and gas. And so this becomes a low priority. And so they sometimes put a box on the floor and they throw their clothes on it and that's how they sleep. Wow. And not to mention too, the extreme there and also kids sleeping with parents because that is the only safe place. That is the only comfortable spot in the house. But like you said, these kids deserve space to grow and spread out and feel confident and, you know, when they wake up in the morning. And dream, yes, yes. So, again, one more time, how folks can help out, because this is all going through this challenge through December 31st, right? Correct. So visit our website. It's all spelled out at www.furniture-bank.org. All right. Thank you, Diane. All right.