The volunteers from Morris Home Furniture, WCPO, Park National Bank, Crossroads Church, Gorilla Glue, Chick-Fil-A and St. Vincent de Paul celebrate before the families arrived. Photo by Leigh Taylor
Skip Tate
St. Vincent de Paul/Cincinnati
At the count of three, the curtain slowly began to rise. As it rose, there on the other side was a gift for each of the 50 children standing by the curtain — and not just any gift, but something they’ve always dreamed of: A bed to call their own.
Every night across Cincinnati, many children sleep on the floor, on a sofa or with other family members, depriving them of the good night’s sleep needed to better live, laugh, hope and dream. For these 50 children, as the curtain rose and they found the bed with their name on it, that struggle suddenly became a thing of the past. They now had their own beds. It was truly a Day to Dream.
To help address the ongoing problem of children without beds and to raise awareness of the need for more beds, three years ago St. Vincent de Paul and Morris Furniture Company created a “Day to Dream.” This year’s annual event took place at the P&G MLB Cincinnati Reds Youth Academy in Roselawn on Saturday, August 24.
The event was followed by a phone-a-thon during the evening news on WCPO on Monday, August 26, with more than $20,000 being donated by viewers so more beds for kids can be purchased.
“Our volunteers visit the homes of our neighbors in need and often find a pile of blankets on the floor where each night a child lays down to sleep,” says Mike Dunn, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul-Cincinnati. “The need for beds in our community is great, and the generosity of the Morris Furniture Company will provide a good night’s sleep to many children.”
Throughout the year, a portion of all mattress purchases from Greater Cincinnati locations of the Better Sleep Shop inside Morris Home and Ashley HomeStore locations help St. Vincent de Paul provide beds to families across Cincinnati.
“Every child needs a bed, and we are committed to bringing smiles to kids by giving those in need a bed of their own,” says Larry Klaben, president and CEO of Morris Furniture Company. “Since 2001, Morris Furniture Company has helped local organizations provide over 11,000 beds to families in need in Ohio and Northern Kentucky.”
Along with a new bed, the children also received sheets, a comforter, blanket and pillow courtesy of Morris Furniture Company, as well as a backpack with school supplies from Park National Bank, baseball glove from the Cincinnati Reds, and a stuffed animal and lunch courtesy of Chick-Fil-A.
As the families walked out of the event, the beds delivered to their homes by volunteers from Crossroads Church and Gorilla Glue Inc. Smiles were on every face. The dreams this day were definitely happy ones.