TAMPA, Fla. — Dozens of Tampa Bay children have a better place to sleep, thanks to bunk beds built by local engineers.

What You Need To Know

  • Group hopes to deliver 150 beds by the end of the month 

  • Sleep in Heavenly Peace's motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town."

  • About 2-3% children in Tampa Bay don't have a bed of their own, according to organizers with RK&K

“Our mission is to build beds for children in the Bay Area,” said Amanda Glynn, senior project engineer for RK&K. “Our goal is to build 40 beds today.”

Glynn is used to designing and building major projects for cities, but no multi-million dollar city project can compare to the one she’s constructing with the group Sleep in Heavenly Peace whose motto is “No kid sleeps on the floor in our town”.

She says around 2-3% of kids in Tampa Bay don’t have their own beds.

“They might be sleeping on a couch, on the floor, on mattresses their parents dragged in,” said Glynn. “There’s great need in our area and we’re just trying to help as much as we can.”

The help couldn’t come a moment too soon for Jaqueline Bolds and her family. She says it’s a godsend to her and her three boys.

“We weren’t able to afford the beds, so the boys were all sharing the same bed, so it helps them to be able to have their own space,” said Bolds. “And with them having such small living quarters it gives them each their own area.” 

As excited as the boys were to get their new beds, Glynn says it’s just as exciting for her to help make it all possible for more Tampa Bay kids to have a comfortable place to lay their head that they can call their own.

“So out of mount we’ve got 31 going out in eastern Hillsborough and then out of our Pinellas unit. They’re sending out 50 today,” she said. “Together we should be about 85 beds.”

Organizers hope to have 150 beds delivered by the end of the month.