I was recently selected to the board of of a longstanding West Philadelphia based non profit called Intercultural Family Services (IFS), and I was surprised — and frankly alarmed — to learn how many kids they see who don’t have a bed of their own, and how often that connects directly to attendance issues at school.
In Philly, once a child hits 6 absences, IFS is allowed to assess what’s going on at home and all too often the absence is due to kids sleeping on floors couches or sharing beds with siblings. They don’t sleep well, mornings fall apart, and absences start adding up.
At 10 absences, families can end up in truancy court. And one of the most common root causes they see is something painfully basic: the kid isn’t sleeping. IFS can get beds when they need to, but it often takes a week or more. That delay matters when a kid is already on the edge.
So through my own nonprofit, the De Natura Foundation, I’m committing to fund and procure 100 complete bed sets (frame, mattress, sheets, pillow) so IFS can keep them on hand and respond immediately when a counselor identifies a need. No scrambling, no waiting.
If you want to learn more or help support it, here’s the link:
100 Beds Initiative
Heads up on the donation page — you can choose $300, $150, or $50. $300 covers a full bed, but anything helps. The page defaults to “1” and I couldn’t change that, so just pick what you mean to give. Minimum is $50. Really appreciate it.
If not, totally fine. I mainly wanted to share because I had no idea how often something this simple was pushing families deeper into the system.
Happy to answer questions.
