To ALL A Goodnight By Brian Neighbors

My small group at church decided to get involved in a project our church was putting on call "To All a Goodnight."  The project was designed to raise money, from our church, to help five disadvantaged families in our community.  The idea was to take $2000 and redo the bedrooms for the children and parent in disadvantaged homes where the children did not have the everyday "normal" items included in their bedrooms.  To begin, our small group work with another group in our church of older adults and together we met several times this January planning the project.  First, we created a floor plan of the 4 bedroom house, where a single mother was raising her 4 kids, 3 nephews, and 1 niece.  Next, came a list of needs for each room, and then deciding how to spend the $2000.  It was amazing to see people, many of whom had never met prior to our first meeting, grouping up and figuring out who would be assigned each room, design a shopping list, and go together to purchase the supplies.

In February, we spent two full days in the house. 

Day One,  Prep and Landing:  The first day we went into the house and cleaned out everything in the rooms.  The current mattress the children were sleeping on, were at best, 20 years old, the metal springs were showing, and not one of the mattress had a sheet to cover it.  In each room the mattress were placed directly on the floor with no bed frame.  Two of the rooms had no ceiling lights, no fans, flat white painted walls with marks all over, and nothing on the walls or floor decorating the room for the child.
We painted each room a specific color to match the new design, the closets got new doors and shelves, and hand made curtains were hung on the windows.  My duty was to paint the closets, and help hang ceiling fans in each of the bottom floor rooms.  

Day Two:  The day began knowing that at 4:00pm the kids were coming home to see their new rooms.  We started the morning finishing all the construction to the rooms, and hanging decorations on the newly painted walls.  Upstairs, where the mother and youngest child lived, we redecorated the room with a new bed, book shelf, closet, and baby gate on the stair case.  All of the children rooms got new bunk beds, mattress, bedroom sets, and each child was given two pairs of pajamas. 

It was a rush to finish on time, but everything came together in the end and the rooms looked like they belonged in a different house.  When the children arrived, it was obvious by the looks on their face that they were thrilled with what was done.  In a room where three of the boys were sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor now each had their own bed with sheets, pillows, and comforter.  In two rooms the children got desks and chairs to do homework and sitting chairs to relax and read.

Leaving the project, I felt good about the opportunity I was given to make a small difference in this family's lives.  My wife and I decided to do a little extra something for the children.  We had recently went through our children's rooms and got ride of a lot of toys to make room for the new Christmas presents they recently had gotten.   We took 3 bags full of, used but very nice, toys and let each child take turns picking a toy out until all were taken.  Given to these children, seeing their happiness, made me feel happier than it made them. 

The impact of providing a bedroom a child could be proud to say was theirs could help their self-confidence, relationships at home, quality of life, a place to do homework, and getting a good nights rest before having to spend the day at school.  In the long run, even if the bedrooms allow one of the children a place to focus on reading a book in bed, the difference it could make in the educational future of that child could be limitless.