This was the second year for Build-A-Bed. Last year, volunteers assembled a total of 50 beds at five locations around the state. This year, for greater efficiency, they centralized their work in a hangar at the Kentucky National Guard headquarters in the capital.
Volunteers want to help low-income children get the good night's sleep that other people might take for granted, Bachert said. Sleep deprivation can lead to health problems in children, he said.
"There are a lot of kids in Kentucky who have to share beds," Bachert said. "Or they maybe don't have a real bed, they sleep on the floor on an air mattress. Or they lost their bed to bed bugs or in a fire or something like the flooding we saw last week."
[caption id="attachment_1518" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Volunteers participate in the "Build-a-bed" project in Frankfort, on Sunday, May 9, 2010. Participants worked in shifts Saturday and Sunday to build 500 beds for children in need."]
AmeriCorps will truck the beds to 18 drop-off locations across Kentucky, where additional volunteers can deliver them to local families.
Bachert said children were selected for the program based on referrals from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Red Cross and other agencies.