WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Instead of waiting for Santa's elves to craft a bed for each of Brittney Armbruster's six kids, some Western New York neighbors in Buffalo's Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter took it upon themselves to do the job.
"It was almost like the family had just come to help put together my kids' beds," Armbruster said.
All of the beds came in the weekend before Christmas, so Armbruster's children wouldn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.
"My youngest son, he goes mom 'I can't wait to go to bed tonight and I was like well, how come? He goes because I get to sleep in my new bed. I can't wait to sleep in my new Spiderman bed," Armbruster said.
The kids' old beds fell apart in their move from Watertown to South Buffalo and the cost didn't make it easy to replace.
"There was no cheap option because I needed to get beds and mattresses," Armbruster said.
In fact, it's not easy for a lot of Western New York families. Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which is an organization that works to build, assemble and deliver beds to children in need, is taking on the challenge.
"I get over 90 requests a month. In November, I got 240," said Jerry Sheldon, president of Buffalo's chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace. "I have a backlog of 210 kids waiting."
That's the kind of demand Buffalo's Sleep in Heavenly Peace is seeing, despite volunteers only starting to make beds at Eastern Hills Mall only 17 months ago.
Over the weekend, they delivered their 1,000th bed to a family in need.
"I don't think people realize that this problem is there and for child development, there's two vital things for children: nutrition and sleep," Sheldon said.
As the snowbirds get ready to go down south after the new year, the non-profit is going to need a lot of volunteers to hone in their home improvement skills, whether it's just one or every Saturday from January through May.
"My children, I genuinely think that in their eyes, Santa came with a miracle," Armbruster said.
That way no child has to wait for another Christmas just to peacefully lay their head at night.
If you'd like to volunteer after the New Year, you can reach out to Sleep in Heavenly Peace here.