Rotary clubs donate over $11,000 to Sleep in Heavenly Peace

More than 200 beds will be distributed to children in need throughout the south thanks to Rotarians and other organizations’ volunteers who gathered at Northern Tool & Equipment in Burnsville for a building event. The business hosted an estimated 500 volunteers who built beds that Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that builds and delivers beds to children ages 3 to 17 in Dakota and Scott Counties.

Multiple Rotary clubs worked together on a November 18 build session. Members of the Rotary Clubs of Apple Valley, Burnsville Noon, Burnsville Breakfast, Eagan
Kick-Start, Savage, Shakopee and Minneapolis donated their time and $11,250 toward supplies needed to make the beds,
said Brian Bessler, Apple Valley president.

 “We didn’t realize there was such a need for beds,” he said. Bessler worked with Mike Schwie (Burnsville Breakfast), Area 2 Assistant Governor, to coordinate the clubs for the build. “I think that the really big benefit of involving multiple clubs is there’s a lot of interaction between the clubs. It was the first time that all the clubs have gotten together to create a major project like this,” he said.  (Read full story in Sun This Week.)

Rotarians help donate 2,000 pounds of books to 'Books for Africa'

In another collective effort, the Rotary Clubs of Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove and
E-Club Global Travelers gathered books for the Books for Africa organization. The team also helped raise $500 for shipping costs. Pictured left to right: Gary Uhde and Ann Uhde (Brooklyn Park), Judy Johnson (Maple Grove) and Nancy Laible (Global Travelers). The clubs' collaboration with
Books for Africa supports a literacy project 
in Kenya.