ITS Enterprise Process Support Team Builds Beds for Children in Need

Back: Jon Wright, David Hoalcraft, Kathy Kinney, Linda Saul, Susan Watts, Mandy Patti, Dan Cohen. Front: Cindy Hoalcraft. Not pictured: Jesse Bickel.

The saying goes, “you made your bed, now you have to sleep in it.” Earlier this month, though, the Information Technology Services (ITS) Enterprise Process Support team built 12 beds so children in need could sleep in them. Some of the beds were delivered the very next day to local families.

It was a restorative change of pace for the Enterprise Process Support (EPS) team. As part of the ITS mission to provide an outstanding technology environment for the University, EPS provides consultation and facilitation services to improve business processes across campus. During the team’s annual retreat, EPS got a head start on the Syracuse University 150 Days of Service by volunteering with Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is an organization that builds and delivers beds to children who do not have one of their own. According to numbers collected by the group, roughly 3 percent of American children are without beds.

The Syracuse chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace was founded in 2018 and has delivered 565 beds to date. EPS team member Cindy Hoalcraft had previously volunteered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace and suggested it as both a team-building activity and an opportunity to serve those in need.

ITS support analyst Jon Wright is co-president of the Syracuse chapter and helped coordinate the day’s activities.

“My personal faith puts an emphasis on serving others,” Wright says. “The result of trying to help kids get their own beds is that I have found a simple, long-lasting joy doing so.”

EPS director Kathy Kinney says her team felt a similar sense of meaning in the day’s work.

“I think some were quite surprised at the need,” Kinney says. “We all felt good about contributing bedding and building beds for families in our community.”