In the Spring of 2016, the Beaird Family Foundation invited Renesting Project to perform a demonstration of the services we provide to clients. The demonstration provided a detailed insight into who we are and what we do, especially for Beaird Foundation Board members that weren’t familiar with our mission. Part of our demonstration consisted of a furniture pull for a client family we would be serving a few days later. The clients had requested beds, but unfortunately, we didn’t have any to give that day.
The bed shortage bothered one member of the Beaird Family Foundation in particular: a granddaughter in the family, about 10 years old. She didn’t like the idea of the client’s family receiving items they needed, but missing a bed. She shared those feelings with her family at their board meeting later that day. When John Beaird, her grandfather, found out about it, he decided to make bed frames for Renesting in his workshop, Forest Creek Workshop. With each batch of handcrafted bed frames he brought, he also provided new mattresses! The only caveat he gave us with the generous donations was that he didn’t like sanding and staining the wood, so we would need to find someone else to finish the beds for our clients.
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Eagle Scouts hard at work!
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Click to enlarge.
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Of course, God’s work done God’s way will never lack God’s supply- and He did supply. Lynn Stevens, a board member at the time, had an Eagle Scout son in need of a project. So Colin Stevens and Troop 64 set to work finishing the first few batches of beds. They sanded, stained, and attached a plaque to each bed. The plaque explained the beds’ origins to those that would end up using them. The Scouts even raised funds to provide linens for the beds! A group of SWEPCO volunteers later sanded and stained the remaining beds during the United Way’s Day of Caring 2018. The beds were one of many projects the SWEPCO team completed!
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The SWEPCO team
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We could not be more grateful for The Beaird Family Foundation, John, Lynn, Colin, the scouts of Troop 64, and the SWEPCO volunteer team. It truly takes a village- thank you to all our donors and volunteers that help us provide for our clients! The bed frames, mattresses, and linens provided for many families over the course of 2 or 3 years. And all it took for these blessings to arrive at the Nest was one little girl sharing her thoughts and feelings!
Colin and John with one of the handmade beds and some of the linens
Comment below:
What skills or gifts are you blessed with that you use to provide for others?