Thought the years, Bedroom Gallery, and Legacy Furniture have given away over X number of mattresses to members of the community.
The first formal event was in July 2017. The event dubbed “Operation Love thy Neighbor” took place at Mills park. We decided on 50 mattresses Having no idea of what to expect, we took an assortment of sizes, from Twin to King size. Pam & I showed up at the park about 6:30 a.m. to place the “Line starts here” sign. We went to get some coffee, and fuel for our truck, and drove back by, just to see, and WoW, the line had already started forming for our Noon start time. The event was Awesome! Our team, whom all volunteered their time, as the event was on a Sunday, had us well organized. It didn’t take long to distribute all fifty mattress sets, in addition, we also gave out metal bed frames, mattress pads, sheet sets, and pillows. This gave us quite a feeling of joy, and was very humbling.
Shortly after that event we decided to do it again “next Year”, so we went back into the planning stages. We thought the event sight was good as it seemed to reach some of the most needful people from the community. The one change we did make, was the count. Instead of 50 mattress sets, we decide to up the number to 60.
Year number two 2018, went very much like year one. It seemed like more people had heard of the mattress giveaway; however, the count was close. We did hand out some extra coupons, as we had more people show up than we had brought mattresses. So, over the next few weeks, we had some folks show up at the stores to redeemed the onsite coupons.
Year number three, 2019 was the last time we held our event at Mills Park. It was a great success. Again Pam & I showed up early to place the “Line starts here” post in the ground. I don’t totally recall; however, I do believe when we showed up, people were already on site. This time some of our planning changed in that we decided to concentrate on children. We limited the sizes of mattress, and increased the number we gave away to be 75 sets. It was so amazing to see how the community not only seemed to expect the event to occur, they showed up to be helpful. Stranger helping stranger. It was wonderful in that some people had lined up for hours; however, had no way to get their new found goods home. So, we witnessed other community members show up with empty trucks with a willingness, and ability to load up, and deliver mattress sets to other community members homes. Neighbor helping neighbor. It was an awesome sight to witness.
We all remember 2020. For a period of time, our stores were forced to close all retail operations. This was not only a very difficult time for us, it was a terrible time for the whole community. Covid was something that devastated many communities in our nation. As we all know Klamath County is a fighting community. With so many uncertainties, and a lot of fears as how to manage thru this horrible time, we started to see some recovery, and the community starting to emerge thru this devastation, we also noticed the community we still in much need. We understand that we can’t do it all, but we felt the need to try and do something. So rather than an on-site event, we started a series of Facebook postings. We started asking the community to help put us in contact with people in need thru a series of on-line nominations of whom might be in true need of a new mattress set including frame mattress pad, sheets, and pillows. We weren’t too sure what to expect; however, the wants, and needs seemed to come thru in a manner that we were able to manage thru a weekly giveaway. Sometimes multiple giveaways per week. We thought to see if we were able to keep up with the same types of numbers we had been doing in the previous years. We keep no formal number, but we do know we gave away a lot of mattress sets in 2020.
As 2021 rolled along, and the hope of Covid management was in sight, we thought of the previous mattress give away events we held. We felt the need was still great, and we certainly felt if we had the ability to do so, we would like to continue the giveaways. It had been so awesome to recall the expressions on the people that were able to receive new mattress sets, and it was so amazing to see other community members so willing to step up and help others that were both stranger, and neighbor. We definitely wanted to continue to do some good in the community. All our previous events took place in the summer, just about the 4th of July. So for our 2021 event In our strategy meeting, we decided on a winter giveaway. We realized we couldn’t do so outdoors as the weather would probably not be cooperative. We decided to hold the 2021 event at the fairgrounds. It seemed to be centrally located, and it was indoors. We called the fairgrounds, and rented the event center sometime in mid-December.
As we had thought possible, the weather did throw us a curveball. We had ordered our giveaway mattresses plenty early; however, the shipping company held onto our order in hopes of better road pass weather. Finally, a last-minute go / no-go decision had to be made in order to get our mattresses delivered to town in order to make our event. It was very close, as we were strategizing on how we could possibly deal with the possible disappointment of canceling our giveaway. None the less our last-minute delivery did make it to town, two loaded semi-trucks, made for a frantic un load situation at the fairgrounds. For this year’s event we made some changes, we decided to focus solely on children. We determent the giveaway would be for Kids of the basin. So we decided the first 100 parent accompanied children would be the recipients of a new twin size mattress set, and metal frame, mattress pad, and sheet set, as well as pillows. Because we were so close to Christmas time, we had a Christmas theme going on in that we also had Santa on hand so people could have photos with Santa, we also gave away candy canes, and a plush toy for each child. One thing we did realize, but not expect was that for some kids this was the only gifts they would have for Christmas…..
We thought our 2021 Operation Love thy Neighbor event went so well, that we would follow suite for our 2022 event. We decided once again to hold our event at the Klamath County Fairgrounds, and decided to see if we could rent the venue as close Christmas as possible. With the thoughts of how many families used, and counted on the mattress give a way as “Christmas Gifts” for so many children, we decided the timing would be good, and again in the spirit of Christmas, had made available and on-site Santa, along with some other Christmas give a ways. We also increased the number of mattresses to 110 sets.
For 2023, We have made no formal decisions as to a major mattress giveaway. We have to date had the honor to be able to be a part of Refuge Church Malin’s Summer Mission Trip. We did partner with the church to be able to donate 20 complete Mattress Sets along with Frames, Mattress pads, Sheet sets, and pillows, and a plush toy. To be distributed to the community.
We share all this not for recognition, but to simply say that no matter what, if we all try, we can make a difference in someone’s life.
We encourage everyone, no matter how little, try and help your neighbor, and or even a stranger it will make a difference in their life, and you might be surprised how good it will make you feel
