SC State students help nonprofit build beds for children, families in need during Business Week 2026

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is eyeing an Orangeburg chapter.

ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- The buzz of sanders and the pounding of hammers could be heard in front Belcher Hall on Tuesday as South Carolina State University’s next generation of business leaders helped to build beds for children and families in need.

 The university’s College of Business and Information Systems (CBIS) kicked off Business Week 2026 under the theme “Next is Now: Building the Future of Business & Leadership” on Monday, with the bed-build service project being the second event in a weeklong series designed to engage students in professional development, wellness and community impact.

“I think the value of this project is to help our students to realize that we all have a responsibility to look after one another in the community. There are people in Orangeburg and the surrounding cities who do need beds,” said Dr. Matthew Guah, dean of the CBIS.

The students participated in the building of 10 beds for Charleston, S.C., nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), which was founded in 2012 in Twin Falls, Idaho, to provide safe and comfortable sleeping spaces for those in need.

Students learn lessons beyond the classroom

Amber Walker, 21, a junior economics major from Columbia, S.C., was among those who volunteered.

“I just always like to give a helpful hand when I can. I think it’s something I would like to have done for me, and I take pride in just being able to help out with that blessing. That’s why I’m here today,” she said.

“I think it shows that the work is not just being put into the classroom, but also just being applied in real life. You’re able to really see yourself help others in real life instead of just being able to learn in the classroom,” Walker said. 

Kayden Clark, 20, a junior computer science major from Summerville, S.C., had just walked out of class when he saw the flurry of activity outside Belcher Hall and became curious.

“They were out here gathered around. I heard what the group’s mission was, it’s like to help kids in need who don’t have beds. The nonprofit’s chapter president explained how somebody he knows, an IT person who makes $100,000 a year, had just gotten his own bed at the age of 18,” Clark said.

“It seems fun out here. It’s a good way to connect with people and help people at the same time. It’s a good opportunity to work hands-on outside of the classroom,” he said.

Breanna Guinyard, an instructor in the university’s CBIS, said it made her happy to see so many of her students participating in the community service project.

“Honestly, I came from a rough background, like somewhere where students were in need. So, I try to fill that gap. My whole purpose for coming back at South Carolina State was just to kind of fill the gap,” she said.

Of the service project’s impact on students, Guinyard said, “It’s about letting them know that great things happen here at South Carolina State University, and this place will kind of mold you into someone that’s greater. You’ll come here a girl or a boy, but you’ll leave here a man or a woman.”

Local Orangeburg SHP chapter under consideration

Jack O’Connell is president of the SHP Charleston Chapter, which is one of five state SHP chapters and 350 nationwide.

“I’ve been in it for five years now, and the first part of it is the build. So, we typically look for sponsors to do the build. Organizations and companies may give their employees a Community Day kind of thing. That’s where we fit in. So this is what we’re doing here,” O’Connell said.

“Typically, we would have chop saws and drills and everything out here to make a whole train of the build. But based on the timeframe here and everything, we’re just doing the assembly today. Everything else has been cut, and it’s ready to be sanded and put together,” he said.

“The real heart of this is the delivery of the beds. Now, when we deliver the bed, we deliver it with the mattress, the pillows, the blankets, the comforters, and we have two organizations that give us handmade throws and quilts,” O’Connell said.

The SHP chapter president said Brandi Blake, a project consultant working with Guah on developing Business Week activities, reached out to the organization about having the university’s students participate in the community service project.

“We came up here last week and we scouted the site out. This is a great place to do it. We hope to make this a yearly thing, and we’d love to see a chapter get started in Orangeburg based on the university’s ability to help,” O’Connell said.

“If we could get somebody who’s maybe retired like me and has a little extra time to form a chapter up here, [that would be good] because I believe what we’re going to find is there is a great need in this community for what do in delivering free beds.

“We’re going to try to deliver these 10 beds here in Orangeburg. My donations manager lives in Summerville. He’s going to bring the beds up. So, what we’re trying to do is organize with the university to find us people who need beds,” he said.

Blake, an SC State alumna, said she wanted the community service project to make a big impact in the community.

“These beds are going to go here. They’re not going anywhere else. So, we really thought that was important. The moment we opened the sign-ups, 40 students signed up. So, that’s a testament to what they care about and what they want to be involved in,” she said. 

“That warmed my heart that our business students have a heart for people and want to help the community. We had well over the amount we needed,” Blake said.

She said the university is poised to help where there is a need in Orangeburg.

“Why not? We have business resources and so many things that we can help. One day, there might be a Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter in Orangeburg, and hopefully, the students will be interested in that,” Blake said.