JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
Members of the South Pittsburg Rotary Club have recently held a volunteer workday renovating and setting up shop at a new base of operations for the South Pittsburg Chapter of the Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) program.
The volunteer day, hosted on Saturday, August 9 in Monteagle was part of the Rotary Club’s mission to establish and touch up an official base of operations for bed-building projects relating to the SHP chapter of the community. Work included landscaping, installing new lighting, as well as adding new coats of paint to parts of the exterior structuring.
Originally, projects were hosted across various remote locations, including schools, churches, as well as parking spaces for local businesses. However, the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly have granted both the Rotary Club and SHP Chapter permission to utilize a facility more suitable for future bed building projects. The building is located right off of Highway 41 near the heart of the town.
Jeff Robertson, President of the Rotary Club, explained the Assembly granted use of the facility under two conditions: to have the structure be wholesome in appearance and to only be used for SHP related projects. He explained how the Assembly owned the facility for several years, not actively using the building before handing the reigns over to the Rotary Club. And by having a proper location to construct new beds for children in need, it would help the local chapter properly sustain with time.
“We’ll continue to do the public builds. And we’ll do one in the parking lot at Lowes in September because that’s a good way for people to see Sleep in Heavenly Peace in action,” said Robertson.
In addition to new lighting and landscaping, a new loading door with a ramp that helps delivery crews load material into the building was also installed. Additionally, once each event is hosted, all materials and supplies collected will be staged for volunteers to begin constructing the main framework of each bed. After every bed is complete, all the parts are then shipped off to the designated home, where the remainder of the bed is put together for the child in need.
Norm Flake, President of the SHP chapter in South Pittsburg, explained how he and his wife Kristin established the chapter in May of 2021. The Flakes at the time served as Rotarians, where they pitched the idea to establish SHP in the surrounding area. The Rotary Club at the time was already interested in bringing a community service project to the area, quickly jumping onboard with the Flakes’ idea.
Norm stated originally, when kick starting the program, club members and volunteers managed to construct 50 beds for children in need throughout the region. However, because of the greater demand than what was initially built, all involved quickly realized far more beds are needed to be built to accommodate the number of children throughout the region.
“We didn’t realize the extent of the need in this community when we first started the program,” said Norm.
SHP is a national program divided into various chapters that helps to support children in need of a proper bed to rest on. South Pittsburg’s chapter encompasses six counties throughout the Sequatchie Valley region; four in Tennessee being Franklin, Sequatchie, Marion, and Grundy Counties, Jackson County in Alabama, and Dade County in Georgia. Since the chapter’s inception, up to 2,300 beds have been constructed and sent out to children in need within the region. More bed building projects are planned ahead, with both the Rotary Club and SHP chapter to continue the program’s mission of providing those in need throughout the remainder of the year and beyond with a proper and comfortable place to rest.