Syracuse volunteer brings ‘luck’ to children without beds to sleep in

In 2018, Dave Hoalcraft’s pickup truck pulled up outside a two-story townhouse in Eastwood, its bed packed with bedding, rolled-up mattresses and wooden bed frames. Four children — two girls and two boys — waited in their empty bedrooms as Hoalcraft and his colleagues assembled their new beds. 

When they finished, the younger brother climbed into his bed, folded his hands behind his head and stretched his legs out “like a king,” Hoalcraft remembers.

He wouldn’t even get out from under the covers to take a picture with his siblings — he was savoring his first night with a bed of his own. 

These were the first beds Hoalcraft built for Syracuse children in need. They would not be the last. 

“We’ve changed the perspective of their life so [that] sleeping on the floor is not normal,” Hoalcraft said. “I don’t know what they are going to do with the rest of their lives, but it’s going to go up. They are going to strive. They’ll have the drive to not want to sleep on the floor.”

Hoalcraft is the co-president of Syracuse’s Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter, a nonprofit that aims to solve what the organization calls “child bedlessness.” In a city with one of the highest child poverty rates in the country, SHP is building beds for children in the area whose families cannot afford them. 

“Child bedlessness may not be a real word, but it is a real problem,” SHP’s website reads.

Since 2018, the Syracuse chapter has built and delivered more than 7,500 beds for children in need, with nearly 500 currently on the waiting list. That number continues to grow.

SHP often partners with local organizations to host community bed build events. The organization held a “bed build” on Feb. 22 on Syracuse University’s campus. During the event, SU raised $25,000, and student volunteers assembled 116 beds. These partnerships are integral to sustaining the chapter’s work, Hoalcraft said. 

Hoalcraft said he does this work so every child has a warm, safe place to sleep. Many of the program’s beneficiaries previously slept on piles of laundry, in closets or with a single blanket on the floor.

“I want to bring these kids a lot of luck,” Hoalcraft said. “I want to give them an opportunity, give them hope, give them some dignity, and, minimally, give them a place to sleep.” 

Hoalcraft considers himself a “product” of Syracuse’s Eastside and the Syracuse City School District and said he feels a personal connection to the children SHP serves. 

In the city of Syracuse, over 40% of children are living in poverty, according to a 2024 report from the New York State Comptroller’s office. Most of SHP’s deliveries are concentrated in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

“When you see that school bus going by in the city, the faces looking at you on one side of the bus represents child poverty in Syracuse,” Hoalcraft said. “The poverty level is very high and the need is very, very great.”

Hoalcraft was placed in a foster home at six days old and at 12, he was adopted by his foster mother. The opportunity to grow up in a stable home is not one he takes lightly, Hoalcraft said. 

Most foster children jump from house to house and get “passed around,” he said. Hoalcraft has built a life with lifelong friends and a childhood home in Syracuse, and said he wants to bring some of that same luck to other children.  

“It’s right back to my motivations for why I do this,” Hoalcraft said. “I made a very good life for myself, and maybe it’s because I had a bit of luck along the way.”

Richard Brazell, a retired engineer, has volunteered with SHP for nearly six years. Hoalcraft has the ability to make the bed deliveries magical, Brazell said.

All the volunteers can go in and build the beds, but Brazell said Hoalcraft makes a genuine connection with the kids.

“He’s like Santa Claus,” Brazell said. “It’s like you turn a switch on. He’s like a big kid.”

Hoalcraft had no formal construction experience before starting at SHP. He and his friends help each other on small construction projects on their homes, like building decks in their backyards. He said he considers trial and error with friends to be “the best way to learn.”

Most SHP volunteers aren’t experienced because it isn’t required. The organization simplifies the steps so anyone can participate.

Brazell said Hoalcraft is “extremely dedicated” to SHP, and that even on days when he tells Brazell he’ll be late to the warehouse, Hoalcraft will often come in before 7 a.m.

When Hoalcraft had knee surgery, his doctors told him to stay home for three weeks. After a week and a half, he was back at SHP, sitting on a chair to sand wood for the next build, Brazell said. 

Brazell referred to Hoalcraft as a “little brother,” and said the two often joke around and tease each other while working at the warehouse. 

“He’s just very caring. He gets along with everyone,” Brazell said. “He’s probably one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met.”

For Hoalcraft, the reward is simple: seeing the children happy keeps him going.

“You can walk away from seeing these hard situations, and know you made it a little better,” Hoalcraft said. “That’s when we fulfilled the mission, ‘no kid sleeps on the floor in our town.’”