Open Letter from Sweetsleep.org

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Hello, old and new Bed Blog Friends.

Last year, Sweet Sleep provided 10,000 beds (compared to 1,000 in 2009). You were a vital part of making that happen. I am so thankful for your sharing these opportunities with your readers. Now, we have a tremendous challenge before us. One of our teams will be working to provide 96 beds to an orphanage near the capital city of Kampala. Another team will be working in the northern area of Gulu. You’ll recall that northern Uganda is rebuilding after 22 years of rebel attacks from the LRA. Resettling the 750,000 orphans in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps is a challenge Sweet Sleep has boldly taken on. Last year our partners (World Vision, American Refugee Committee and The Child Probation Office—think Child Protective Services) collectively anticipated resettling 750 children from the camps to their tribal villages. Because of our provision of beds, life-saving mosquito nets and Bibles, more than 2,000 came forward to be returned to their homes. This is quite a miracle!

Our partnerships have grown, as has the need. Our team anticipated providing 500 beds next month to orphans in Gulu. Several weeks ago our Gulu staff, Jennifer, came to us with a request from our partners. They needed more than 4,300 beds. Knowing we could not provide this need, we prayed over the situation as we examined it and settled on 991 beds. This is a huge, huge challenge.

Sadly, this is a challenge we likely will not be able to provide for. I have to be honest here and tell you that our giving has not kept up with the number of beds we have provided. At this point, it will be a great challenge to provide the 500 we had originally planned. God has wired my heart to care for the orphan, so I have lived in great faith for these last 8 years of our ministry. It seems unimaginable to me that we would not meet this need, but we won’t---without you.

Please consider posting this opportunity and ask your readers to likewise consider providing a bed for an orphan in Gulu. We will literally be taking each gift and immediately turning it into life-saving beds that will take these orphaned children from the IDP camps and into their home villages where they will be watched and cared for by their tribal families. We need each and every person to do this. I know it sounds cheesy to say, but literally---no gift is too small ($8 buys a mosquito net) and no gift is too big (there are 750,000 children to place into new homes in northern Uganda alone).

$8 provides a mosquito net

$10 provides a Bible

$50 provides an entire bed in northern Uganda

$50,000 provides for all 1,000 children

Anyone who provides for 10 orphans with a gift of $500 will get a free short-sleeve Sweet Sleep T-shirt.

Checks can be made to Sweet Sleep with a note for “Gulu” in the memo line. Our mailing address is PO Box 40486, Nashville, TN 37204. Online gifts can be made at www.sweetsleep.org/donate and please note “Gulu” in the comments box. If your gift is $500 or more, please be sure to include your T-shirt size in the comment box.

I say this all the time, but I’m really just a voice for the forgotten children of the world. Here’s a letter from a sweet child in Uganda who received a Sweet Sleep bed:

Hello friends,

I have greeted you in the name of Jesus Christ.  The main reason of me writing this letter is to appreciate you of what you did for me by providing me with bed sheets, bed, mosquito net, blanket and a mattress.  Let me tell you this, that I slept well yesterday night and for me thought I was in heaven and even I didn’t want to wake up because the bed was very sweet to sleep in.  But mostly, I want to thank God who gave you that heart of loving others.  May he bless you in everything you do.

From yours faithfully,

Joan

You are now a voice as well. And when we put our voices together it is beautiful. Thank you.

Talk soon,

Jen

PS. Know another blog author? Feel free to share this with your fellow blog friends and ask them to join with you in our Bed Blog! Each person who posts this their blog will get a magazine bead necklace made by widows from the very first orphanage we provided beds to in Uganda. Sweet Sleep purchases these beads from the widows, giving them not just a job, but also pride in knowing they are helping to provide for their country’s children. Just be sure to tag Sweet Sleep in the post on Facebook (@SweetSleep) or Twitter (@SweetSleep) or send us a link to your blog (info@sweetsleep.org) so we’re aware of it and we’ll get in touch with you for your favorite color beads! 

Jennifer Gash, President and Founder

Sweet Sleep -- a bed for every head

P.O. Box 40486,  Nashville, TN 37204-9998

T: 615.730.7671    F: 615.750.2789

www.sweetsleep.org

http://www.twitter.com/jengash

www.sweetsleep.org

In 2010, Sweet Sleep changed the lives of nearly 10,000 orphans around the world through the provision of beds, life-saving mosquito nets and Bibles. Read about our work and find your role at www.sweetsleep.org

I (Toby) do not receive any financial compensation for my endorsement of this company. Jen Gash is my friend and I support her vision and work.