AN INVITATION TO ALL FRIENDS MEETINGS

Little Rock Monthly Meeting would like to extend an invitation to all Friends Meetings to actively participate in our Bunk Bed Project. After Hurricane's Katrina and Rita, Little Rock Meeting, carrying a concern for the thousands of families that lost their homes, undertook the Bunk Bed Project. Small groups of volunteers will be building sturdy bunk beds complete with mattresses, pillows, sheets, pillow cases and blankets. The beds will be offered to families with children that are finding themselves living in small spaces - temporary or permanent. The bed components are put together in the home, a job of about 20 or so minutes. But time enough for genuine exchange to take place. Our needs assessment (done with the help of Catholic Charities) revealed a much greater need than we originally thought. It is estimated that we will be building and delivering bunk beds, 800 to 1,000, over the next two years. We are a small meeting and it feels almost overwhelming, but so rightly led.

Catholic Charities of Houston, New Orleans and GulfPort will be assisting with identifying families who would benefit from having bunk beds, and also providing on site storage and delivery.

The construction and storage site is located in Arkadelphia, AR., an hour south of Little Rock. A major timber company in Arkansas is donating framing lumber and we are in the process of trying to identify a company to donate mattresses. The foregoing are the two most expensive aspects of our project. But there are still a great many needs and we are hoping that Friends Meeting everywhere will be able to assist us.

You can help by:

• Sponsoring a complete bed with bedding - $200.00
• Sending sheets, pillow cases, blankets, pillows
• Sending a donation for sheets, pillow cases, blankets, pillows to be purchased locally - $50.00 to $60.00
• Sending a donation to support the Bunk Bed Project - Any amount will be greatly appreciated
• Volunteering to come to Arkansas and make beds - groups of 4-6
• Encouraging your meetings to have their children send us draw- ings, messages or books to put in each pillow case.

Contact Information: