OKLAHOMA – The 10-year-old girl had been sleeping on a broken bed and an old mattress that looked more like a hammock than a twin bed. Her single mother was on low income and was struggling to find a more comfortable bed for the child to sleep on.  

She would be the first child to receive a 111Project Build-A-Bunk bunk bed.  

111Project partnered with S.O.U.L. Mission – the University of Oklahoma’s football player development program – Oklahoma Human Services, and Oklahoma Assembly of God to host three separate Build-A-Bunk sessions in October to build over 240 bunk beds for children in foster care. 

Since October, over 48 bunk beds have been delivered in every region of Oklahoma for families and children in need.  

Beds – twin beds, bunk beds, and cribs – are the number one requested item on CarePortal because they help ensure the safety of a child, increase the well-being of a child, or provide permanency for biological, kinship, and foster families. Beds are crucial in stabilizing families and are an OKDHS requirement for reunification. 

“These bunk beds are going to be the tool used to get children reunified with their biological family or potentially keep them out of foster care,” 111Project Executive Director Chris Campbell said. “They’ll be a part of the equation that provides more than enough support for children in the foster care system. And it will have a significant emotional, physical, and economic impact on the state of Oklahoma.” 

World Harvest Church provides bunk bed to foster family.

A foster family in Enid wanted to take in a set of siblings, so they could stay together, but they didn’t have the beds needed. World Harvest Church was able to provide bunk beds and make that sibling placement possible. 

The 2023 Build-A-Bunk event is helping children and families in crisis and equipping rural churches with the needed resources to meet bunk bed requests in their community. 

A single mother was in trial reunification and was sharing a twin-size mattress with her child on the floor. Trinity Baptist Church transported and assembled the bunk beds while First Methodist Church Ada provided the mattresses. These churches provided more than just the physical items – they provided individual beds that allowed this family to have a better night’s sleep and be more rested each day. 

There are four open requests for bunk beds with no responses. Click the link to see if one is in your area: https://system.careportal.org/requests?q%5Bstate%5D=38&q%5Bstatus%5D%5B0%5D=Open&q%5Bresponse_status%5D%5B0%5D=unmet_fundable&q%5Bitems%5D%5B0%5D=92&tableSearch=bunk+bed. 

Any churches or individuals interested in learning more or getting involved can visit 111project.org.