Hope to Dream: a safe place to sleep

Getting a bed for her baby.

That’s what Dawn Edwards wanted for her 3-year-old granddaughter Ka’Mya.  Ka’Mya didn’t have a bed of her own; she slept with her mother or grandmother on a make-shift pallet on the floor, one she’d share with her four cousins when they spent the night.

Dawn shares an Artisan at Willow Springs apartment home with her daughter Brittany and Brittany’s daughters, Ka’Mya and 18-month-old Keryssa. Last fall, Dawn told Resident Services Coordinator DeeAnn Guajardo, “I’m trying to get kids off the floor.”

DeeAnn saw a need and wanted to find a resource to help Dawn and her granddaughters.

She remembered Ashley Homestore’s, “Hope to Dream” program, which has donated more than 50,000 beds to children across the country whose families couldn’t afford them. She nominated Ka’Mya for the program.

“Dawn saying that she needed to get the kids off the floor really touched me,” says DeeAnn. “I poured my heart into the application, taking time to do it. I wanted [Ashley Homestore] to feel that she really needed it.”

They did. DeeAnn received an email saying that Ka’Mya was one of 50 local children who would receive beds. Ashley Homestore partnered with the San Antonio Spurs to host a pajama party at the AT&T Center where the children saw their beds on the court and met the Spurs Coyote and the Silver Stars.

Two weeks later, Ka’Mya’s bed was delivered to the family. Since then, she must be told—often— “Stop jumping on the bed.”

But she does have a bed to jump on. For that, the family is grateful.

“I’ve never seen a complex that does so much for its residents. I think it’s wonderful,” Dawn says. “Miss DeeAnn has all the connections.”