We are excited to introduce you today to Sleepyhead Beds, a local nonprofit that helps ensure Kansas City kids and their families get a good night’s sleep.
Sleepyhead Beds was founded in 2010 by Monica Starr. Monica saw first-hand the significant need for beds for the Kansas City metro area children while working with foster youth families as guardian ad litem. With two part-time employees, a truck and some warehouse space, Sleepyhead Beds was born and during its first year provided 1,200 beds to Kansas City area children. Since its inception in 2010, the company has accepted 20,000 mattresses donated to them to help Kansas City families!
Sleepyhead Bed’s mission may seem simple, but makes a huge impact to our community. It is to take gently used/donated mattresses, sanitize them, and give them to children and families in need. These families are typically found via social workers, school aides, and online application submissions via their website. There is no charge to the family for mattresses or bedding. Not only are they providing a good night’s 
sleep to families and children that need them, but they are also preventing the over pollution of mattresses in landfills. This is a win-win for our Kansas City community and environment.
I had a chance to speak with Melissa Dusenbery, Community Program Manager for Sleepyhead Beds.
What’s your favorite part of working for Sleepyhead Beds?
“That our mission is very simple and focused. We’re just here to supply families with beds and bedding. We know what a huge impact that can play. Getting better sleep leads to better self-confidence and doing better in school, etc.”
What goal do you think that Sleepyhead Beds would have for the next 5 years?
“I think one goal would be to close the gap of our waitlist. We do help a lot of families but currently our waitlist grows faster than the amount of donations we receive. Also for people to just be aware of our organization and that you end up on our website!”
How can our Kansas City Mom community make an impact to help meet your needs?
“We receive mattresses (which is the goal) however we also accept bedding. If a family is in need of a mattress, they typically need blankets and sheets as well. We have a great partnership with IKEA for pillows but we are always in need of blankets so we can provide each family with a complete mattress and bedding set. Particularly, we need more twin and full sheet sets and blankets as we do get more donations of queen sets. We also need crib mattress sets and pack n plays. We do have an Amazon wish list (Amazon Smile) with items that people can purchase to also help.”
Attendees of the Kansas City Mom Collective Pajama Jam event will be collecting donations for Sleepyhead Beds including crib bedding, twin and full sheets, blankets and comforters.
For a complete listing of donation needs and ways to volunteer, please visit SleepyheadBeds.org.
