Meet the Board

Shawn Sullivan

Treasurer

Changed lives. That's what drives Sweet Sleep Board of Directors Treasurer, Shawn Sullivan, to spend his time, talents and resources to help orphaned and abandoned children around the world.

In December of 2006, Shawn's church, Brentwood Baptist, was buzzing about orphans half-way around the world needing beds. While attending Kairos, a mid-week worship service at Brentwood, Shawn heard the story of Sweet Sleep taking up the plight of orphans around the world by replacing their old dilapidated metal beds with beautiful, comfortable new wooden Sweet Sleep beds. After seeing the pictures of these beds and hearing the stories of these children, Shawn knew he had to do something to fight this injustice.

"I think some causes you give to because you want to help someone who has had a good chance at life but blew it." Shawn said. "A second chance is definitely a worthy cause, but what drives me to help these orphaned children is that their situation is absolutely no fault of their own. They've never had a solid chance at life."

Shawn immediately began supporting the work of Sweet Sleep financially but soon found himself wanting to do even more. In the summer of 2007, Shawn joined Sweet Sleep's Board of Directors as Treasurer. Using his finance skills on the Board helps Sweet Sleep use every donation to most effectively improve the lives of children around the world.

Shawn recently returned from a trip to Moldova where he helped build beds for 280 orphans in the village of Drochia. Shawn shares with us his experience serving in Moldova: "The children we worked with were starved for love, starved for attention and starved for the knowledge that they are unique and special. My favorite day in Moldova was "birthday party day," Shawn said. "We picked a day and threw a big birthday party for all the kids in the orphanage. Most of these children had never been celebrated before! Most of them had never had a birthday party - and some didn't even know when they were born. They just know they've spent their entire life in an orphanage. It was so amazing to see them smiling, singing, laughing and celebrating just the fact that they were born - each of them unique and special. It's an experience I will never forget."

After seeing Shawn's passion for these children, friends and coworkers at Willis decided to help as well. Shawn and his co-workers recently participated in "penny wars" and raised money to help pay for beds for the children Sweet Sleep served in Drochia.

"I encourage everyone to get involved with this organization that is doing so much good in the world." Shawn said. "For less that $200, Sweet Sleep can provide a complete bed for an orphan in a Third World country. In Moldova alone, Sweet Sleep has provided nearly 2000 new beds for the children living in this country's orphanages but more than 11,000 children are still waiting... And with more than 210 million orphans world-wide, Sweet Sleep has a huge task ahead of them as they seek to provide "a bed for every head." If you can give, give. If you can go, go. I encourage you to help these children any way you can."

To join Shawn in helping these orphaned and abandoned children and to watch a video of Shawn's trip to Drochia, visit www.sweetsleep.org.