'No child should have to sleep on the floor': Beds4Kidz receives 100 donated mattresses

It may have happened 10 years ago, but former local weatherman Steve Stucker recounts the story like it was yesterday.

It all started with a private message he received on Facebook from a woman looking for a hospital bed for her 12-year-old niece, Dakota, who was suffering from spina bifida.

“I said, ‘Who do you think I am, lady? A hospital bed,’” Stucker said. “But a little while later, I thought I could ask. I went on Facebook, said this girl needs a bed and a friend of mine donated the (hospital) bed.”

The bed was soon on a truck and delivered to the girl, who lived in Shiprock. “They send a picture of Dakota with her thumbs up and a smile ear to ear. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen,” a smiling Stucker said.

Stucker shared the story on social media and thought at the time it was a one-off. That was until he received hundreds of messages in the days that followed from other people asking for beds.

To meet this growing need, Stucker founded Beds4Kidz, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to see that every child in New Mexico sleeps each night in a clean, comfortable bed.

“We just started trying to help connect givers with the people in need, and the next thing I knew, my garage was filled with other people’s beds — and my wife was not happy,” he said, laughing.

Beds4Kidz aims to place 200 children in free beds every month. During the holiday season, it bumps its goal up to 300 people. Over the past 10 years, Beds4Kidz has placed more than 16,000 people in free beds.

“It’s so touching to think that these kids have a better chance at health, sleep, school,” Stucker said. “We get a lot of stories like that.”

On Tuesday morning, they added 100 more new mattresses to that total, courtesy of American Home Furniture & Mattress. Seventy Tempur-Pedic twin and 30 queen mattresses were donated and will go to children and families in need.

Kenton Van Harten, American Home Furniture & Mattress chief operating officer, was brought to tears Tuesday as he recalled hearing a boy named Gabriel, 5, say he was excited to have a bed, so he won’t have to sleep on the floor anymore.

“(Beds4Kidz) is great,” Van Harten said as he wiped the tears from his cheeks. “Giving beds to kids, that’s what it’s all about.”

American has donated more than $500,000 worth of mattresses to Beds4Kidz over its nearly eight-year partnership and on Tuesday, it joined Tempur Sealy International in making a $20,000 donation to the nonprofit that will go toward purchasing more mattresses for families in need.

The mattresses will allow children like Ellie Macias, 3, the chance to sleep on a bed of their own, in some cases for the first time. Beds4Kidz volunteer Nancy Banuelos had the opportunity to show Macias her new bed on Tuesday, and while the young girl didn’t have much to say, Banuelos knew how much it meant.

“She said, ‘I like,’” Banuelos said. “She was pretty excited. I got a few smiles out of her.”