The Oxford chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) built 68 beds for local families at the Old Armory Pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 12. The organization is a national nonprofit that builds beds for families in need.
This event was part of a national initiative called Bunks Across America. SHP has 400 chapters across the U.S.; its Oxford chapter launched in March 2026.
To date, SHP’s 400 chapters have built over 350,000 beds for children in need. The Oxford chapter delivered 72 beds to families in 2026 prior to the 68 beds built on Saturday.
Alex Cortes, the president of the Oxford SHP chapter and co-founder of An Army of Normal Folks, hopes to positively impact Lafayette County through his service with this nonprofit.
An Army of Normal Folks is a podcast and network of local service clubs that’s meant to highlight individuals and groups that are making changes in their local communities.
“Something that almost nobody knows is that 3-4% of kids in America are bedless, so if you just look at our county, that could be 282 kids,” Cortes said.
For the national Bunks Across America mission, Lowe’s provided sponsorship of $12,500 to 40 sites nationwide. Every year, Lowe’s opens an application process for the scholarship, and the Oxford chapter was selected from those applications.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Lowe’s for their financial and manpower support to help make our mission statement a reality: No Kid Sleeps On The Floor in Our Town!” Cortes said in a press release.
Before the building event began, the expectation was to build around 50-60 beds with the goal of gathering 100 volunteers.
The event exceeded expectations. In total, there were 125 SHP volunteers, including community members, University of Mississippi students and Lowe’s associates.
This was the Oxford chapter’s largest and most successful build to date, exceeding the expectations of Cortes.
“We ended up doubling the size of our largest bed build before this, from 34 beds at the July build to 68 yesterday,” Cortes said. “We almost doubled the number of volunteers, too, from 70 to 125 volunteers.”
Michaela Cortez, a junior electrical engineering major from Collierville, Tenn., volunteered at the event and commented on how this experience opened her eyes to the need for beds in her community.
“I definitely think it’s great to raise awareness about it,” Cortez said. “I didn’t think that people not having beds was really a problem.”
William Johnson, a senior from Clinton, Miss., was reminded of his privilege while volunteering at the build.
“We probably take things like a bed for granted, but (there are) probably a lot of people out here that don’t have a place to sleep,” Johnson said. “We want everybody to have basic necessities like a bed and a roof over their heads and things like that.”
Bunks Across America was a big success for Oxford’s SHP chapter, and Cortes and his staff hope to accomplish more in the future.
“We’re excited to introduce even more service opportunities to the community so that we can leverage our time, talent and treasure to empower every single member of our community with the opportunity to flourish,” Cortes said.
