Norfolk, Virginia-based mattress maker Paramount Sleep, in partnership with philanthropists Ann and Donald Brown, will deliver 2,000 new beds to needy families in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area this year. The “Browns’ Beds” campaign is a program of the non-profit A Wider Circle, whose mission is to supply furnishings to impoverished families in the Washington metropolitan area. In 2013, the organization said it received 12,000 requests from low-income families in need of beds and other essential items.
“We hear every day from families who are either sleeping on the floor or on mattresses you couldn’t imagine putting your head on, let alone your child’s head,” said Mark Bergel, founder and executive director of A Wider Circle. “Yet many in our region face that challenge, and so much more, every day—and night. Thanks to the $300,000 donated by the Browns, and others, which launched Browns’ Beds, and a partnership with Paramount Sleep, 2,000 residents of our region will—or the first time in a long time—get a good night of sleep.”
According to a February news story at CNN, Bergel donated his own bed to A Wider Circle in 2008 and has vowed to sleep on his couch until everyone in the United States has a bed.
