NEW RIVER VALLEY, Va. – Sleep in Heavenly Peace in the New River Valley needs help.
“This should be full of beds so that we can get through the winter,” said Paul Mele, president of the Sleep in Heavenly Peace New River Valley chapter. “It should be full of new mattresses to put on those beds, but we’re out.”
Mele said it’s been their busiest year yet.
“We visited over 170 families in the New River Valley over 2023 and we delivered over 350 beds—getting kids off the floor,” Mele said.
For the first time since opening this chapter, Mele said they have been forced to close due to a lack of materials.
“We’re not taking applications and we’re not processing applications because we just do not have the inventory and we do not want people to have a false sense of expectations,” Mele said.
He said in the New River Valley, applications are constantly coming in.
“We delivered about 56 beds just from the first of December leading up to just before the holidays,” said Mele. “There is about 60 kids already out there needing beds and we’ve got about eight to 10 beds left.”
Mele also said right now, they need places big enough to build beds throughout the winter.
“We need somebody with a nice big space where we can come and get a little bit of sawdust in your place, but we’ll clean up real good when we’re done so we can get beds under kids,” Mele said.
10 News also reached out to the Roanoke’s Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter and they said they have enough beds to last through January 10.
If you would like to get involved, you can contact Mele here.