by Dan Fergus
Remember when we were college-age kids? It was fun and cool to have your mattress on the floor. Well, most of us aren’t in college anymore and sleeping on the floor really isn’t any fun at all. So, after 10 years of Room in the Inn (RITI), we decided it was time to get ‘real’ beds.
Some of the RITI churches have spaces where they can keep beds up all of the time, but we don’t. So the first challenge was to have something that was easy to setup and easy to take down. They also need to be sturdy. After all, many of our guests (and a few of the innkeepers) are not small people and we want the bed to come apart only when it is supposed to.
After several design attempts, we have a winner. It is one piece with slats that are connected with nylon. It is easy to setup and take down and is very sturdy and stable.
The sample bed was used by a blind guest the last night of the winter session. When he was helped to the bed and sat down he rejoiced, “Oh praise Jesus. This is wonderful!”
Now, we need to build 16 more beds, or a total of 17 (15 for guests and 2 for innkeepers). The cost for each bed is estimated to be $125.00. So we need to raise a total of $2,125. All funds will be used to buy wood, slats, hinges and screws. Labor will be provided by church friends and members. We’ll be starting the work around the first week of June and hope to have all beds funded before then.
If we are fortunate enough to raise more than the total cost of the beds, we plan to designate these contributions for future projects, such as possibly adding a shower and/or washer and dryer for our RITI guests to use.
Would you buy a bed for a RITI guest?