"Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy." Mahatma Gandhi
"To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity."
Douglas Adams
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| Doug Nickols and Daughter Laura Nickols |
Imagine finding yourself suddenly homeless. Maybe your home was destroyed by a tornado, or maybe your apartment was burned to the ground. Maybe you moved across the country with your husband and four kids, with what seemed like a lot of savings, to find a better job and the job didn’t materialize. It might be a useful exercise to imagine this situation as I’ve heard it said, that many of us are just a few paychecks away from losing our housing. With hard work, perseverance and maybe luck, many will find their way out of homelessness. But sometimes that may mean moving into an empty apartment or rental home with every cent going to food, rent, and utilities. Approximately 700,000 Americans go to sleep without a bed every night. In 2012, 8,550,000 tons of repairable and reusable furniture was thrown away. This is where Doug Nickols of Plano,Texas and the organization he directs comes in.
I met Doug originally at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma when we were sophomores. We lived in the same neighborhood and walked the same route daily. I wish I could say that I knew him well then, but like so many in a large school, we were more like friendly strangers. Since Facebook entered our collective consciousness I, like many of you, have reconnected with many from our distant past and this is how I came to learn about Doug’s service to his community. I’ve been impressed by everything I’ve learned about Bedstart and it is my hope, as well as Doug’s, that other programs like Bedstart might spring up in cities everywhere.
“The highly unique Bed Start ministry goes beyond existing charities, nonprofit organizations, and collection sites to partner with any and all in poverty, crisis, or need, requiring furnishings and other household items.
Our Tri-Union Approach
1. Provide a hand up to those in need at no cost.
2. Empower Spirit-filled individuals and groups invited into homes to serve of their talents
skills and graces.
3. Foster gracious and generous in-kind and financial giving with donors who desire to share with others.”
From the bedstart website
Doug started this innovative and unique
program in 2008 after he lost his job and had time to get more involved in
his community. His previous job
involved a lot of travel and he rarely had time to spend at home. He grew up doing a lot of
volunteering with his parents and had exposure to people in need through family
travels and his church group.
Learning about different cultures, people, and environments provided
grounding in understanding human nature, especially in less populated rural
areas. When I asked Doug what he
thought about human nature he said “I think deep down inside we want do good,
we want to be able to be in community with each other, to share with each
other, but somewhere along the path of growing older we get distracted by
greed, by material possessions, wanting to have enough for ourselves beyond our
capacity to use for ourselves. We have a hoarding mentality to want to keep as
much in our possession for some date and time." Sometimes this
“hoarding” can happen as we save endless rooms of furniture or other goods for
our children or even future unborn grandchildren. We wish to gift our belongings solely to our family where
we imagine the receivers will be curators of our family memories in the guise
of goods. This approach is what
Doug calls conditional giving vs. unconditional giving.
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| Doug and the BedStart website team. |
Doug’s passion for serving was ignited five years ago when he met a woman who wanted to rent one of his houses. She had a terminally ill five- year old child and her goal was to
move from an apartment to a house with a yard so that her son could enjoy the
remaining time he had with a safe outdoor space and better housing. Unfortunately her husband
left and took all of their furniture. She contacted Doug to let him know she couldn’t move to an empty house and
she had no resources. “It broke my
heart” said Doug, “we connected with the HeadStart Bedstart group that only provided beds at that
time.” The HSBS program had
started in 1995 with one school
and provided beds to three and four year olds. In 2008 the program was dying and led by one man who used whatever
funds he could find. After he
helped Doug provide beds and other donated goods his truck broke
down and he decided to hang it up. The program died. “I felt that since I
did have a truck and a trailer and I did have what I felt was a calling
to step in and help, I could also
improve the program to include not just beds but also furniture, and not just for one school but for many. I believe that God puts us
in a position to help all, with no restrictions.
After restarting the program he began
working through the school systems, beginning with the Independent School district of Plano, then
with others throughout the Dallas Fortworth area. Bedstart’s new aim was to serve any school and any child
who had a need. Over time the Bedstart
progam began working with small agencies that had different resources and skill
sets. Women’s shelters are partners, and when an individual leaves the program and is able to move into a house, BedStart works with the agency to provide furniture. About two years ago they
were serving single parents with kids for 50% of deliveries, since then they are working with larger agencies. Other partnerships include Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Veteran’s groups, UMCOR/VOAD disaster relief and City of
Dallas rehab for exiting prisoners. There is a big increase of requests in the
winter. Children are sleeping on
the floor, Veterans are given housing vouchers but no furniture, and the needs
seem endless.
In the beginning Bedstart was considered a hand out – not a hand
up, the rich were giving to the poor, taking from the rich side of Plano,
giving to the poor side of Plano. “I felt like that just wasn’t right. It was a spiritual thing. During the time I
spent unemployed, I left it up to God to help me find a job that was more
rewarding and fulfilling, more beneficial to the employees I worked with
instead of the bottom line. Part
of that included reading the Bible and once I started doing that, I started seeing
passages’ of Bible come alive. I
found an understanding from a deeper level of history or from the individuals
in the Bible who are called to minister, I felt that the program needed to
change from charity, which is one sided, to ministry so our Bedstart group not
just focuses on those in need, but those who want to share."
The Three Pillars of Bedstart:
1)People who want to share their goods.
Furniture, appliances ( not built
in), beds, household items. Mattress companies promote BedStart to those
persons that want to give away their own mattresses in good condition when they
purchase a new one. New mattresses
come from donations. It’s hit and miss whether people get new or old, but all goods are disinfected
and sanitized and Bedstart doesn’t take old, ripped, or falling apart products. “We aren’t a repair shop” said Doug.
2) Those that are interested in serving.
Those that serve are passionate about matching people who have resources with those that don’t. Bedheads enjoy sharing stories with people who are giving away treasured furniture with many memories.
3) Receiving
Five years ago less than 80,000 dollars, using garage sale prices, of furnishings were donated and only 10% of that was from financial donations. 100 beds were gifted. This year 365,000 dollars in furnishings were gifted with 670 beds delivered.
A Few Facts:
*There are 300-400 Bedheads serving
each year, including 120 Regulars. Every Saturday morning 30-40 people show up
to pick up furniture and make deliveries.
*During the 2012-2013
school year, Bed Start was invited into 1,161 homes compared to 750 in the
previous year (55% up)
* Bedstart delivered 667
beds compared to 384 in the previous year (74% increase) and delivered $363,315
total furnishings compared to $191,600 in the previous year (100% up).
*Bedstart has grown 30-40%
every year since it began and now gives over $300,000 of donated furniture to those in need yearly.
* Bedstart doesn’t help
financially with food and clothing but provides the furniture and goods that
make a house a home, a place that kids look forward to coming home to, a safe
place to play and to study.
* Dignity is a very important aspect
of Bedstart service and every participant is treated with love and with respect for their inherent worth as a
fellow human being.
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| Doug with youth from the BedStart team. |
Doug and I had an interesting
conversation about the difference between volunteering and serving. I think it’s an important distinction
to make and I am now rethinking my own position and philosophy regarding
“volunteering vs. service” and exactly why I am doing it and for whom? Doug’s definition is that “volunteers
are those that spend their extra time and do it when they have time. Those that
serve make it a priority. It’s at
the top of their list. A lot find
it very worthwhile and not just a checkmark on their service hours, especially
with high school kids that get involved through high school societies, or youth
groups at church. They come back after they’re compelled
or required because they enjoy making a difference in the lives of others.” Another differentiation of Bedstart
from other organizations is that the emphasis is on giving and receiving,
rather than donating money. Only
10% of BedStart's donations come in the form of financial gifts. These gifts are useful but Doug prefers
to focus on service and interconnection of the giver and the receiver. We both
noted that so many of us in the USA are well off because of our birth into a
financially secure family. There
is no virtue in being born wealthy just as there is no shame in being born into
poverty. It is essential then that
we all give generously with whatever our resources are and to also recognize
that every single human has intrinsic value and gifts to share with others.
When asked, Doug happily admitted to being
the Head Bedhead. “It has consumed
my life.” I want to point out that Doug serves this ministry in addition to his
full time job. So he is very much
consumed with serving every single day. He uses facebook as part of the ministry and encourages people to
think and to “get off the computer and out in the community.” Those who work with Bedstart experience the power of sharing
and people’s graciousness. “Last
year we were invited into 1,100 homes, 600 of those were giving, and 500 were
receiving. 30 – 40 people come and are divided in small crews and take off in trucks,
trailers, and small delivery vans."
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| Doug Nickols |
Bedstart rents a storage unit and Doug’s
garage also serves as one. He picks stuff
up during the week as well as with the bigger crew on the weekend. “ I love it.” Doug is creating a seamless life by taking his attitude of
service into his paid work as well. “My life experiences in my day job and the
ones after work are similar.” He
feels that God helped him find the job he has now, and even though he had other
offers, he didn’t want to work
only for a paycheck. His current job at an industrial air conditioner
manufacturer focuses on helping employees to develop skills and to make improvements.
Doug’s wife, Caroline, is a school teacher, and while she is very supportive of Bedstart she focuses on
making changes in the way math is
taught in the public school system. She is able to give a lot of leads for Bedstart through the school she
works in. His young adult children also help out when they can.
Doug and I talked for over two
hours about Bedstart, other service oriented organizations in Dallas, and
sharing our lives and experiences. An aim of this particular blog is to hopefully inspire even one person
to start a Bedstart organization. Doug has helped neighboring communities
start similar programs and is excited about helping others to start a program
wherever they live. It’s important
though that an organization that is started is about building relationship.
Important tenents would be:
*No paid employees
*Giving of time is of greater value
than giving money
*Giving is without discrimination
*A focus on children, although all
are served
Maybe you would like to start a Bedstart?
Doug’s parting words were
this “I'm very strong in my beliefs and my faith. Society in general
needs to change. I think we've become so reliant on handing things over to
Washington, to the government. We as a community need to take responsibility again
for our neighbors. Bedstart give us that opportunity to experience this."
How wonderful it is for us to feel real connection, joy and love as we work with our communities and neighbors to make a difference for each other. This is service at it's best.
Namaste,
Felicia
Links from this blog:
To learn more about Bedstart in Dallas, to volunteer or even to donate please contact:
http://bedstart.org/
Cool Bedstart volunteer made video (embedded above):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF0c2YscKYs#t=66
Coming Soon: Danube and her postcard project, Anne's dedication to honoring a deceased friend's dream, Jamie who successfully changes animal welfare laws, and a whole lot more! Stay tuned for stories of individuals who are happily following their passion to make the world a better place.
