A local start-up company aims to give more than 1,500 Phoenix foster children a bed of their own by June.
Tuft and Needle began selling foldable lightweight beds made with cotton and polyester to fund its charitable mission. The beds normally cost $300 to $400 depending on size, but the company plans to donate one bed for every $99 raised starting in January, co-founder Daehee Park said.
Park worked with co-founder John Thomas to open the business during the spring, and his brother, supply chain management and computer information systems junior Gunhee Park, is one of Tuft and Needle’s eight employees.
The company began working with local nonprofit companies, such as Crisis Nursery, Child Protective Services and the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation, to identify children who need this help.
Starting in January, it will begin fundraising to manufacture and send beds to these children.
“We want to provide a good night’s sleep for everyone,” Park said.
Most of the children the company plans to help are in the care of kinship providers, family members who take care of children after their parents, for whatever reason, can no longer care for them.
Unlike other foster parents, these kinship providers don’t receive state aid and often can’t afford to support the children as much as they would like, Park said. This leads to many children sleeping on the floor or sharing beds with others in the house.
“Beds are normally very expensive to donate,” Park said.
Tuft and Needle plans to avoid the costs by creating cheaper, more easily transportable mattresses.
Their beds are modeled on the Japanese “shikibuton,” a 3- to 4-inch thick foldable cotton mattress.
It should cost less than $100 and take no more than three days to produce and send, Park said.
The beds are “crowdfunded,” allowing individuals to go to the organization’s website and donate varying amounts of money to build a bed.
The amounts are fixed at $25, $50, $75 or $99 right now, but the company plans to add different donation levels for people like students who would like to help but don’t have $25, Gunhee said.
Gunhee said the company differs from other commercial charities like one-for-one shoe seller TOMS.
“A lot of these are focused overseas, while we believe we should help here first,” he said.
Donors do not have to buy one of the company’s Shikibeds to donate, and Tuft and Needle will send all donors information on whom the bed they funded went to as soon as they raise the full $99.
The company has offices on Mill Avenue and is focused in the Phoenix area, but it has begun looking to spread nationwide.
Gunhee said its online presence makes attracting a national audience easier.
“People from other states can donate,” he said.
Changemaker Central change agent Alexandra Evans, a sustainability junior, said businesses that focus on charity along with capital are common college entrepreneurial ventures.
“Young people are really empowered right now, especially in Phoenix, where you can see a lot of disparity between people living in nice houses and people on the streets,” she said. “It’s easy to see the difference.”
Reach the news editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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