There’s nothing like the comfort of your own bed, whether it’s at the end of a long day or even coming home from a fancy vacation.
George Denise and his wife, Dariel Hoapili Denise, are giving handcrafted beds to underprivileged kids with the hope of bringing them a sense of security and sweeter dreams. In early 2023 they started the first Hawaii chapter of the nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace and have built 18 wooden beds for low-income families on the West side of Oahu. They plan to deliver another 10 beds in August and eventually provide thousands more keiki with their own space at home to recharge every night.
“A lot of kids, especially in impoverished situations, they don’t feel safe,” said George Denise. “A lot them are from broken homes and really bad situations, and it’s often a very unsafe place. A new bed gives them a sense that this is my safe place, this is my own.
“That is the most rewarding part — when you see that look on a child’s face as they realize they have their own brand-new bed.”
Dariel Denise agreed, adding, “Oh my gosh, yes, it does melt your heart, and this is why we do it. They get so excited. They just want to jump on the bed. When we walk in (with the bedding), it’s like, ‘What! This is for me?’”
George Denise said building beds for charity was a natural fit for his skills and contacts in the construction industry, but “passion drives it.”
“It’s kind of how I was raised, just to always give back. My wife and I both came from less privileged situations than we are in today. We want to make sure our kids don’t get disconnected from the way how the majority of the world lives. We want to make sure they can see and appreciate (it), and they’re always giving back to everybody else around them, to the needy. Some of it’s being part of my faith and Dariel’s faith, so it’s ingrained in us,” he said.
Dariel Denise said her husband loves to build and wanted to help the community. “Everything comes from his heart and he puts 110% into everything,” she said.
She is comfortable using tools and enjoys do-it-yourself projects, including arts and crafts. She likes watching instructional videos but acquired hands-on skills from her mother, who was a construction worker for over 30 years, and her father, who was a mechanic.
The Denises’ daughter, Iliana, 9, helps assemble the beds, including with new mattresses and pillows, and makes them up with new comforters and sheets in a pattern chosen by the keiki, Dariel Denise said.
“She’s there every step of the way, from bed build to delivery. She loves it, she loves giving back to the community; she understands it,” Dariel Denise said.
The couple chose to be a part of Sleep in Heavenly Peace because it addressed a need that wasn’t being met, George Denise said. Since its beginning in 2012, the national organization has donated 200,000 beds. Its tagline is “No kids sleeps on the floor in our town!”
“This charity was so singularly focused on one thing — like, we do one thing and we do it well — it was something where there could be an immediate impact,” George Denise said.
Applications are accepted for children 3 to 17 years old, but many are pending. Unfortunately, many keiki in temporary living situations in the Waipahu, Ewa, Kapolei, Nanakuli and Makaha areas won’t qualify until they get into long-term housing.
George Denise is in charge of construction and development at CBRE, a full-service real estate company in Hawaii, which has been supportive of his charity work and even served as a sponsor. Other sponsors have included Calvary Chapel West Oahu, Gordon Mechanical, Honsador Building Supply, the General Contractors Association of Hawaii and Cornair Remodeling. About four build events have been held in various locations, usually provided by a sponsor.
In June the nonprofit was granted use of a 3,500-square-foot warehouse, free of charge, in Kalaeloa Town, a 500-acre community under development by Hunt Cos. Hawaii. The warehouse will enable volunteers to work a lot faster and more efficiently to build more beds, which will help them expand service to the entire island and, hopefully, the neighbor islands.
The next build event will be in late August or early September. A team of volunteers, usually 12 to 15 people connected to a sponsor, meets for one day to build the bed frames, with a team of 13 capable of turning out at least 13 beds. Not everyone has construction skills, and a handbook and training are available for the inexperienced. All volunteers are walked through each step of construction to figure out who is the most comfortable with certain jobs. The few who have never touched a power tool in their life are assigned jobs such as sanding or staining the wood.
“All of the beds are built capable of being set up as either a single or a bunk bed. So far, I believe, we’ve installed 12 beds in a bunk-bed setup and six as singles,” Denise said.
A core leadership team of four includes both Denises, Justin Cornair and Stephanie Stubblefield, who handles social media. They do about 40 hours of prep work before the day of the build, which mainly involves cutting and measuring raw lumber.
Dariel Denise orders and picks up materials, and sets up several work stations with supplies, tools and power sources that resemble an assembly line, with each station a performing different function. She organizes the volunteers, coordinates the work flow and steps in wherever needed to keep everyone working smoothly. The Denises’ daughter is there to lend a hand with simple jobs, but “her favorite thing is seeing if everybody is OK and asking, ‘Do you need water? Do you need a snack?’” she said.
George Denise said their biggest need right now “is a few more people to join our core leadership team, helping organize builds, deliveries and general administrative support so that we can grow in size and serve more of our community.”
Sleep in Heavenly Peace is operated solely by volunteers and 100% funded by donations; only 10% goes to the national organization, which helps with grants and developing partnerships with chain stores for building supplies. It costs about $350 to complete one bed, which could retail for $500 to $1,000, he said.
GET INVOLVED
To volunteer, donate or apply for a bed, visit shpbeds.org/chapter/hi-honolulu.
