LYNN — Students at Sacred Heart School were taught a different kind of lesson on Monday.
Schoolchildren spent the day building, sanding and staining the wooden frames for five beds, which will be donated to five Lynn kids from low-income families.
“I think the building experience really helped me learn some people don’t have beds and you need to help people,” said fourth grader Avery Brown, 10. “It’s nice to do something for other people.”
But the work wasn’t just confined to Monday.
The beds were also paid for by Sacred Heart students, who raised $1,250, or enough for five beds, through a school-wide fundraising effort. The “scholars” raised funds through various activities or asked their family members to donate, according to school Principal Kristina Relihan.
Giving back to the community as part of Catholic Schools Week was the purpose of the event, which benefited local children through “A Bed for Every Child,” an initiative of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Relihan said.
“It makes me proud that they can see what work it takes to build a bed,” said Relihan. “It also makes them realize how lucky they are to have a bed.”
The initiative started seven years ago at the request of a public school teacher who realized many students did not have beds, which led to them coming into school tired and not focused enough to learn, according to Yadira Carvajal, program coordinator at “A Bed for Every Child.”
The program works by partnering with public and private schools to assist students whose families are at-risk of becoming homeless. A proven pathway out of homelessness is to ensure children of low-income families receive an education that will allow them to graduate from high school, according to the program’s website.
“The idea is to give them another tool in their toolbox so they can succeed throughout life,” said Carvajal. “If you don’t sleep, you’re not focused and you don’t learn.”
Ten thousand beds have been given away to needy kids across the state since the initiative started. Referrals for the program come from public schools and the state Department of Children and Families and deliveries are made every two weeks, Carvajal said.
The five Lynn kids will be chosen from a wait list, and will each receive a bed, which will include the frame, mattress and bedding. The bed will be supplemented with a book and teddy bear. That would otherwise cost a family about $250, Carvajal said.
Once Sacred Heart administrators learn which kids are receiving the beds, Relihan said the school will send each child a book signed by every “scholar” who built his or her bed.
That list of signatures should be quite long. Fourth and fifth graders spent the morning building the bed frames and the school’s K-3 students joined in later to stain and sand the wood, Relihan said.
“It was actually a cool experience for me and my teammates to build a bed,” said Gianna Saint Paulin, a 10-year-old fourth grader. “For the kids who don’t have beds, they will be happy.”
Fifth grader Chelsea Nash said the experience was fun, but realized its importance as well.
“It’s important to build beds because some people are homeless and don’t have any money,” said Nash, 10. “At least they should have a bed so they can be warm.”
