CINCINNATI — Each year, WCPO partners with St. Vincent de Paul and Morris Furniture to hold Day to Dream, giving free beds to families in need each year throughout Cincinnati neighborhoods. While this year's event looks a little different, families will still be able to rest easy on the new beds.
For many families, the beds can mean the difference between a good night's sleep, or a night sleeping on whatever they can use. On Saturday, 50 mattresses were loaded up, ready for delivery for the 4th annual Day to Dream event.
Skip Tate, from St. Vincent de Paul, said it's definitely about more than just a bed.
"Study after study shows the better night sleep a kid gets, the better he does in school," he said. "The better he does in school, the better grades. The better grades, the better chances you have in life."
Families were delivered the beds throughout Saturday, but the work won't stop with just the event; WCPO plans to hold a virtual phone bank on Wednesday, Aug. 12, and community members will be able to call and donate to the cause.
"Before, I was either with my mom or on the couch," said Eriyanna Williams, an 18-year-old who received a bed through the event.
For families like that of Jackie Thomas, a pregnant mother of two living in Roselawn, the event provides a lot of relief.
"They actually had their own separate air beds that I bought and, of course, they play and they bust them, so the last couple of weeks they've just been making pallets," she said.
After Roselawn, the deliveries continued to Winton Hills and on to West Price Hill from there, where Lakecia Gaines was grateful for a new bed, since she'd given up hers for her children.
"I gave my kids my bed and I was on the couch," she said. "Now that I can get my bed back and ease my back, and let my kids have their own, it's a blessing."
