Harvard Federal Credit Union Employees Build Beds for Children At SEC Volunteer Event

Employees and affiliates from the Harvard Federal Credit Union gathered at Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex to construct beds for children in need as part of a Build a Bed volunteering event on Tuesday.

Massachusetts-based nonprofit A Bed For Every Child, an initiative of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, provided volunteers with materials and tools to assemble 10 beds at the event.

Tina Baptista, a director at A Bed For Every Child said that the newly-constructed twin beds will be paired with a mattress and delivered to children across Massachusetts.

“Most of the children that are receiving beds don’t have one of their own,” Baptista said. “They’re sleeping on couches or on floors or doubled up sharing a bed with a relative or a sibling.”

The Harvard FCU paid for the materials and recruited volunteers, according to Jennifer Fries, the community engagement manager at Harvard FCU. The bed stations, which includes all the materials for building one bed, cost $350 each.

It takes most volunteer teams about two hours to complete the bed’s construction regardless of experience, according to Baptista.

Last year, the Harvard FCU sponsored a similar event with A Bed for Every Child at the nonprofit’s warehouse in Lynn, Massachusetts. This year was the first time the volunteer opportunity took place on Harvard’s campus.

Harvard FCU employee Leanne Dalton said she enjoyed attending both this and last year’s bed building event.

“It’s kind of labor intensive, but it’s fun,” she said. “I like to give back and help out — doing my community service I guess.”

A Bed For Every Child was launched in 2012 as an initiative of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless after a public school teacher requested a bed for one of their students.

“While we didn’t have beds in our programming at the time, that one simple request launched this initiative,” Baptista said. “Since then, we’ve served nearly 16,000 children with this resource completely free of charge.”

Thaneeye Leary, another Harvard FCU employee, said she enjoyed being able to work with people from other departments at the FCU.

“Last year I missed it, so I’m very excited to join,” Leary said.

“This is a great opportunity,” she added. “I’d absolutely come back.”

—Staff writer Christie E. Beckley can be reached at christie.beckley@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cbeckley22.

—Staff writer Adrian Z. Yin can be reached at adrian.yin@thecrimson.com.