REDMOND — The air was thick with sawdust floating from several sanders, which were all powered up at once Saturday. The North Sister conference hall at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center smelled like a heady mix of lumber and the vinegar and steel wool stain being used on newly-made bed frames.

Over 150 volunteers, loaded down with lumber and sanders, gathered in the Deschutes County fairgrounds to build 100 beds for Central Oregon children who need them. Sleep in Heavenly Peace, the volunteer nonprofit leading the effort, partnered with Home Depot and TDS Broadband Service, who along with the fairgrounds supplied over $30,000 worth of materials and the space for the build.

Jack Rogers, a 73-year-old retired state police officer who lives in Redmond, learned about the event and knew it was for him. He spent 43 years in law enforcement. “I was looking for things to do,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity to do something for my community.”

Luke Mickelson, the nonprofit’s founder, flew in from his home in North Carolina to be in Redmond for the build. He started the nonprofit 10 years ago when he learned of children in his church who didn’t have a bed.

“I was the Young Men’s president, so the effective leader of the boy scouts,” he said. “I took away the Xbox controller and put a drill and sander in their hands. They had fun.”

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Mickelson’s second build, years ago, was a bed for a young girl who had been sleeping on a pile of her clothes. He developed a passion for the work.

“We need the community to solve this problem and take responsibility,” said Mickelson.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace built and delivered 22 beds in 2012. Since then, it has built and delivered over 150,000 beds and have over 330 chapters across the country, made up entirely of volunteers.

“The volunteers have put in hours and hours to support kids here,” Mickelson said. “They give back in a major way.”

Becky Pearson, 59, works with foster children in public schools. She came down from her home in The Dalles for the build. Her brother-in-law is a team manager for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and Pearson offered to help. This was her third build since September.

“I have respect for families who are willing to foster,” she said. “I can make their life easier by helping with builds. It’s part of my holistic way of caring for kids.”

Joe Myers, the 64-year-old Central Oregon chapter president, has had many jobs in service of others throughout his life. A retired deputy sheriff, he believes in service before self. He joined the Central Oregon chapter as a volunteer in 2020, and stepped up as chapter president a year later.

“We find children, and help them,” Myers said. “They’re a victim of life’s circumstances. We can provide a bed. We’re restoring dreams, and building self-confidence.”

Building 100 beds in one day marked a record for the Central Oregon chapter.

Under Myers’ leadership, the chapter expanded its services in Warm Springs, and delivers beds all over the region. Myers estimated that the 100 beds built would be delivered by the middle of May. The chapter needs more delivery drivers, he said.

Carrie Auxier, 43, received two bunk beds from Sleep in Heavenly Peace a year ago after her son’s friends began rotating in and out of her house, and needed a real bed to sleep in. “Some were homeless. I had two to six extra kids in my house every night,” she said.

Her son had one futon in his room, and she would find two to three teenage boys sleeping together in the futon, with one or two more sleeping on the floor and underneath the desk.

“It broke my heart that the kids didn’t have beds,” she said. Since receiving the bunk beds, it’s been wonderful, she said.

“They cycle in and out of my house,” she said.

Though out of work and trying to get on disability, Auxier came to the build with her son and his friends to see what she could do.

Hayden Homes will be sponsoring the nonprofit during the next bed build on June 9.