A Bed in Need providing families with a hand up

B y m ark W at S on Black Hills Pioneer BELLE FOURCHE — A bed. It’s a simple piece of furniture that many of us take for granted. We get tired; we go to bed and sleep.

But, what if you didn’t have a bed? Where would you sleep?

For many families in the Black Hills, that is a reality that they face on a nightly basis, and it is the mission of a local nonprofit organization to fill that need.

In August 2020, Caroyle LaneKemp and her husband, Gary, saw the demand.

“When we came to the Black Hills, we have a daughter who is 11. She’d come home, and she let us know that she had these friends and they didn’t have any furniture,” Lane-Kemp recalled. “So Gary and I’d go down to Budget Appliance, and we’d buy twin beds for Abby’s friends. After about the fifth time, Cheri Tripp asked me, ‘what are you doing with all these beds?’ ‘Well, we’re giving them away.’”

Tripp owns Budget Appliance N Furniture in Belle Fourche.

“One day, Gary and I approached her because there apparently is a huge need, not only in Belle Fourche, but surrounding commu - nities, for people who don’t have beds.” Lane-Kemp said.

They partnered and formed the nonprofit, A Bed in Need.

“The rest is history. In 2021, we gave away 25 beds,” Lane-Kemp said.

And in 2022, the number of beds provided exploded to more than 90.

“We work with South Dakota Kids, the Artemis House. We give beds to people who were victims of fire, to single parents; the hail storm that came through Belle in June. It devastated Belle, we live in Belle so we experienced it too,” she said. “We are very thankful that we have insurance. A lot of these families: none of their stuff was insured.”

Providing the simple beds is very personal to Lane-Kemp.

“Before I met Gary, I was a single mom,” she recalled. “And I couldn’t provide a bed for my child.

“I wanted to do something to help,” she continued. “I can’t be the only person in the world who wasn’t able to get a bed, and I can’t be the only single mom who’s struggling.”

While living in New Mexico, she and Gary owned a consignment store. When families in need came in, often they donated items to those in need.

“Single moms, families, what not,” she said “There was one family in particular: she was a foster mom, and she’d call us up and ask us if we had any mattresses.

Of course we did. We took them out of our home, and we’d give them to her.”

Now that it is not just Lane-Kemp and her husband providing items to those in need, the nonprofit is providing the beds, the bedding, pillows, and more.

“A lot of these are single parents, and they have nothing,” she said, “We try to go above and beyond.”

To apply for assistance or for more information, visit, abedinneed.com.

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