No Kids Sleep on Floors in Our Town: The Story of Launching a Successful Nonprofit with Luke Mickelson

Luke Mickelson

Luke Mickelson, a 2018 CNN Hero Top 10 nominee, is the Founder and Executive Director of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a volunteer-driven nonprofit dedicated to building and delivering handmade, fully furnished bunk beds to needy children. They have delivered 140K+ beds, and the organization that started out in Luke’s garage has grown to include 300+ chapters in 4 countries with 276K+ volunteers. The children Sleep in Heavenly Peace serves often sleep on the floor and use their clothes as a bed. In 2012, Luke decided he had to do something after discovering that there were so many needy children in his community who were forced to sleep on the floor because they lacked beds, so he quit a high-paying career he had held for 18 years to launch his organization. Using safety guidelines and his daughter’s bunk bed as a template, he started buying wood and supplies to build beds with his own money. He recruited friends and family members to help around the holidays, and as word spread, interest and involvement from his and other communities surged, along with Sleep In Heavenly Peace’s bunk bed output, which has at least doubled every year so far. Luke has been featured on multiple major media platforms, including CNN, NBC, and Returning the Favor. On the podcast, he would love to talk about: How a simple Christmas project with his kids launched a successful nonprofit with a nationwide presence, changed the course of his life, and set him on a mission to make sure that no kid sleeps on the floor. Amazing stories of the impact Sleep in Heavenly Peace has had and how you can help end child bedlessness, which is estimated to affect nearly 3% of the population. Parents who can’t afford to get their children beds can seek help from Sleep In Heavenly Peace.

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