T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Slumberland employee Juan Venegas gets beds ready to load into the back of a truck. Seventeen beds were donated to three nonprofit agencies for the Homes for the Holidays giveaway on Wednesday.

Three Marshalltown nonprofits received a Homes for the Holidays donation of 17 twin beds, complete with memory foam mattresses and foundations, from Slumberland on Wednesday.

Manager Pam Taylor said nine beds were given to Heart of Iowa Big Brothers Big Sisters, six to Guiding Star Marshalltown and two to CAPS.

“[The number of beds] goes off of what we sold that year,” she said. “It’s a percentage of the beds we sell out of the store.”

Guiding Star Executive Manager Lindi Trowbridge said they will place the beds in Aggie’s Closet, a free resource providing needed supplies to mothers and babies. The closet is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“Since they are gifting them to us, we are going to gift them to six families on a first-come, first-serve basis,” Trowbridge said.

This marks the first time Aggie’s Closet received large pieces of furniture. She said sometimes they will receive donations of bassinets or strollers, but the six beds are definitely the biggest.

“I really think people are going to be receptive to this,” Trowbridge said. “We have no hidden agenda, other than just giving back and helping people. Everything is free and that is truly part of our mission — to give back to women and families.”

Taylor, who is the new manager, did not think Slumberland in Marshalltown participated in the Homes for the Holidays giveaway last year. However, this year someone called the furniture store and inquired whether or not beds were being given away.

“I know Ken Larson, who opened Slumberland, in total has given away like over 20,000 beds in the last 30 years,” she said. “That’s just for the area Slumberland is in. It’s not nationwide.”

To determine which nonprofits would get the beds, Taylor used a list and called the numbers. Some of them were not interested, she said.

“Some of them said ‘Yeah. I will take this many,'” Taylor said. “When I ran out, that’s when I stopped. If anybody is interested, they can sure contact me for next time.”

The annual Homes for the Holidays donation gives new beds to children and families who are in need and has been ongoing for 30 years. Outside of the holiday giveaway, Taylor said Slumberland also operates the 40 Winks Foundation, which is a nonprofit supplying beds to children all year round.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.