EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to reflect the progress of our bed building project and relief efforts for the children affected by Hurricane Harvey. Ongoing updates about relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey can be found near the end of this article.

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Hurricane Harvey has taken an enormous toll on millions of Texans. And a heartbreaking truth is the amount of displaced children from their homes and even their families as their parents struggle to get back to normal life.

Absolute Exhibits is leading a bed-building project in Las Vegas and Orlando in conjunction with many of our vendors and manufacturing friends to provide much needed relief following Hurricane Harvey.

We will be building 200 platform beds at our Las Vegas and Orlando manufacturing facilities to send to Houston Children’s Charity for its program, “a Better Night’s Sleep”, which started in 2007.

With the devastating Hurricane Harvey, many children will be displaced from their parents and will need the security of their own bed. Unfortunately, many will not be reunited for some time with parents struggling to get back on their feet.

While we cannot undo the damage, we hope that the beds, toys, backpacks and other donations can provide some level of comfort after Hurricane Harvey.

Here’s How You Can Help

Please note Absolute Exhibits is no longer accepting donations but you may still donate directly to the Houston Children’s Charity through their donation page.

We are asking the Las Vegas and Orlando communities to bring new and unused toys, stuffed animals, backpacks and children’s clothing to our locations to be shipped with the beds.

We will be building all 200 beds this week and shipping them along with donated items the morning of Sunday, September 10.

Please bring new, unused toys, stuffed animals, backpacks or children’s clothing to one of our three locations (listed below) between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM, Wednesday, September 6 through Friday, September 8.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept donations after 4:00 PM on Friday.

If you have any clothing to be shipped to Houston we will take that as well. Please be certain that all donations are double wrapped in plastic trash bags and sealed with tape.

If you do not reside in or near these communities, or would rather make a monetary donation directly to the Houston Children’s Charity, you can do so on their donation page.

Drop Off Locations

  • Las Vegas, Nevada ‐ 6620 Escondido Ave, Ste E, Las Vegas, NV 89119
  • Orlando, Florida ‐ 7297 S Conway Rd, Ste 900, Orlando, FL 32812
  • Tustin, California ‐ 1382 Valencia Ave, Ste H, Tustin, CA 92780

Special Thanks to Our Partners

We have also reached out to a number of companies in the furniture, bedding, toy, and building supply industries and, with their great support, we have collected 200 mattresses, bed sheet sets, pillows, stuffed animals, baby blankets, and the building supplies to build the beds.

Here is a list of those amazing companies and their gracious contributions:

  • 200 twin mattresses – Provided by the Navarra Family of Jerome’s Furniture (San Diego, CA);
  • 200 three-piece twin bed sheet sets and 200 pillows – Provided by Malouf Sleep (Logan, UT) through Diamond Mattress Company (Los Angeles, CA) and its bedding representative, Jonathan Schulman;
  • 200 twin comforters – Provided by Southshore Fine Linens (Las Vegas, NV) through Brian Riffel of Colliers Realty (Las Vegas, NV);
  • 100 stuffed animals – Provided by CalPlush (Los Angeles, CA);
  • 100 baby swaddle blankets – Provided, printed and sewn by Absolute Exhibits (Las Vegas, NV), and ink donation by EFI Inc.;
  • Lumber – Provided by A&M Supply (Orlando, FL) and McKillican American Lumber (Las Vegas, NV);
  • Trucks– Provided by Ron Rome of Olympic Logistics (Wheaton, IL);
  • Toys and backpacks -provided by NMR Events (Las Vegas, NV).

Media Coverage

We’d also like to thank the media for their coverage of our story:

Special Thanks to Our Employees

Our employees have all volunteered their time off the clock to help get this job done and in the hands of Houston Children’s Charity. Nothing would be possible without their big hearts and commitment to helping others.

Our belief is that people want to help but do not always know the best way to move forward. It is the innate goodness in most people that comes to the surface.

We know that giving our employees and additional volunteers the ability to be hands-on and contribute to the cause helps raise the morale a notch or two.

Money is always important, but being able to help, no matter one’s financial position, is just a great situation that allows people to feel that they can make a difference.

An enormous thank you to everyone.

Sincerely,

Mike, Jan, and Todd Koren

hurricane harvey, city flooded, national guard
U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel J. Martinez

 

UPDATE – Monday, September 11, 2017

What you can accomplish in one week with a little help from friends is incredible (even if hurricane Irma got in the way).

The first 100 beds have been built at our Las Vegas facility and the second 100 will be moving out of our Orlando facility as soon as that location is safe to move back in due to hurricane Irma.

All donations, which include new and existing clothing, hygiene products, board games and pallets of toys, have been picked up by our trucks along with 200 mattresses from Jerome’s Furniture in San Diego, the bedding and pillows from Malouf Sleep in Logan Utah (thank you to Olympic Logistics from Wheaton, IL for moving all of those pallets to Las Vegas).

We have also retrieved 200 comforters from SouthShore Linens in Las Vegas and the NMR Events office in Las Vegas delivered $3,000 worth of toys and backpacks as an added surprise on Friday afternoon to assist the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Our AE truck driver dropped by the Tustin office to pick up 100 additional toys and 200 more stuffed animals on Friday (9/8) afternoon after getting the mattresses in San Diego. The sewing of 100 swaddle blankets will be completed and packaged Tuesday (9/12) morning. The fleece fabric was printed courtesy of ink provided by EFI, Inc. on the Absolute Exhibits dye sub printer and sewn at the AE Las Vegas office.

Additional kudos goes to McKillican American Lumber and A&M Supply for building materials and most thankfully to YRC Freight for moving everything from Las Vegas and Orlando to Houston.

This has been a combined effort of many businesses and hundreds of employees, all people that just wanted to help the smallest victims in Houston – the children.

We are all so grateful that Houston’s Children’s Charity will be able to take care of so many displaced children. And now we can turn our heads to Florida.

Please remember it is not just about money donations. We know many groups that are packing health kits, collecting and sorting clothes and bath towels, and furniture, and groceries. Thousands of people have lost everything – water plays havoc with every perishable and non-perishable item. Let’s all be as giving as possible – it is so much better to be on the giving end than those waiting to receive.

Thank you,

Jan Koren