SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Students haven’t been letting winter stop them from helping the community. Last weekend 70 student volunteers built beds with the organization Sleep in Heavenly Peace. This is a national organization that builds bunk beds for people in the community who don’t have a bed to sleep on.
The event lasted over three hours and the participants built SU’s lucky number 44 beds. Dickson Rothwell spokesperson of Sleep in Heavenly Peace said there is a waiting list of almost 900 people who still need beds. This event wasn’t the first time Syracuse students have helped tackle the waiting list. He said in the past sororities and even the whole IT department have organized builds.
“I’m just stunned at one how much the community has gotten behind it both in physically being involved and financially being involved,” Rothwell said
Since its first bed delivery in 2018, the Syracuse chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace has donated over 4,500 bunk beds.
This isn’t the only act of service students have been doing. Sophomore Anna Lupardo says she has to do 50 hours of volunteer work before she graduates for the Renée Crown honors program she is in.
“There was a homeless drive that we were like collecting different food and items before Christmas. I like helped collect different things from like day and the Mount and their dorms.”
She also volunteered to make beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace where she was sanding and drilling wood.
“I think being able to do this was really cool because it’s like I’m actually able to give back something to the city. I know I don’t live here full time but I live here more than where I’m from so it was nice to be able to do that,” said Lupardo.
