Sleeping Children Around The World is a charity started by a Canadian senior, Murray Dryden, as a retirement project. Having lived in poverty during the depression, sometimes without the benefit of sleeping quarters, he vowed that someday he would help those in similar positions.
Combing his interest in photographing sleeping children with his long time goal of helping those without proper sleeping facilities he came up with the idea of bedkits for children. During his first distribution in 1970 he assembled fifty bedkits and distributed them in India. From those simple origins has grown a volunteer organization operating from the Dryden household that now distributes approximately 50,000 bedkits annually in 7 countries (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Honduras, Philippines, Uganda, Kenya) with plans to add Malawi and Togo in the future.
Each bedkit costs $30. Refusing to seek government funding or even solicit donations, Mr. Dryden received financial support from friends who shared in his goals. Although he died in 2004, the funds still come from individuals as gifts or to commemorate weddings, funerals, birthdays, Christmas and groups such as school classes and church groups. The donor receives a charitable donation receipt, a picture of the receiving child sitting behind the donor’s name and the satisfaction that comes with giving.
The $30 is sent to the destination country thus:
a)eliminating any transportation costs,
b)spending the money where the funds will purchase more contents for the bedkit,
c)assisting the foreign community by purchasing the contents locally.
Volunteers from Canada visit the receiving country to coordinate the distribution working with local partners such as service clubs and religious orders. The roles of the volunteers include:
a)checking the quality of the contents of the bedkits
b)ensuring that the receiving children are equal numbers of boys and girls between the ages of 6-12 from impoverished backgrounds
c)photographing each child wearing their new clothes
d)physically handing the bedkit to the child.
The charity is unique in that 100% of the donation reaches the recipient child. No part of the donation is directed towards administrative costs that are covered primarily from the foundation set up by Murray Dryden. The headquarters remain in the original family home in Etobicoke and the organization is run by dozens of volunteers - office volunteers, traveling volunteers and overseas partner volunteers.
I had the privilege of being one of the six traveling volunteers during the January 2007 distribution to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India. Our group of six in conjunction with our overseas partner, the Rotary Club of Dum Dum, distributed 6500 bedkits in eleven different locations within a 3 hour drive of Kolkata.
The contents of the bedkits vary from country to country depending upon the particular needs. The Kolkata bedkits included:
-mosquito net
-ground sheet
-mattress
-pillow
-pillow case
-bed sheet
-woolen blanket
-shorts & shirt for boys
-dress for girls
-t-shirts
-sandals (many were in bare feet)
-cotton towel
-woolen shawl
-school bag
-water bottle & tiffen box
-school stationery
-stainless steel dish, bowl & glass
-toothpaste, tooth brush & soap
-packing case
The Rotary Club of Dum Dum received a cheque for $195,000 from Sleeping Children on October 13 and moved into high gear. They tendered for each bedkit item, took delivery of the close to 150,000 items, assembled and stored the bedkits prior to our arrival. In addition they worked with other Rotary Clubs within the distribution region to select the children to receive the bedkits and select the distribution spots that had to be secure locations that could handle 500-1000 people.
Once we arrived they provided a minimum of 75 volunteers daily to ensure that the correct number of bedkits arrived daily at each distribution spot, register the children, arrange for the children to change into their new clothes, control the inevitable lines and provide lunch for each child and volunteer, over 7000 lunches during the distribution period. Certainly the Rotary Club of Dum Dum fulfils the Rotary motto of Service Above Self.
For those of us fortunate enough to be traveling volunteers, it was a unique experience to be warmly received in a foreign county and work hand in hand with local people sharing common goals. We are privileged in being in a position to give rather than needing to receive.
If you wish to learn more you can look at the website by googling SCAW or Sleeping Children Around The World.
Alan Ingram