Sleep America Collects 100,000 Meals in Three Day Food Drive

Furniture World Magazine

Over 18,200 lbs. of non-perishable food items and $11,000 in monetary donations were raised this past week during Sleep America’s and KSLX’s Second Annual “Get in Bed with Mark and Sleep America” Food Drive for St. Mary’s Food Bank. This is equivalent to 100,000 meals. The three day LIVE radio promotion began at Sleep America’s Glendale location on 73rd Avenue and Bell Road at 5:00 a.m. on April 2nd and ran until 7:00 p.m. Friday, April 4th concluding at the 20th Street and Highland Sleep America location— each day traveling to a different Sleep America location. Non-perishable food items and monetary donations were also accepted at the Thursday, April 3rd Phoenix Coyotes game against the Dallas Stars at Jobing.com Arena. “We’ve been looking forward to this event all year,” said Debbie Gaby, Sleep America President. “It was our goal to raise enough food in hopes that no one goes to bed hungry this spring. The community really supported this event by tripling what we did last year in donations!” KSLX Morning show host Mark Mayfield literally got in bed—aboard a flat bed truck—and stayed in bed until the Sleep America truck was filled with food. Local celebrities such as former NBA All Star Tom Chambers, Phoenix Coyotes CEO Jeff Shumway, Phoenix Film Festival Founder Chris Lamont, CBS 5 news anchor Sean McLaughlin, Jenn Hoffman from The Apprentice, Diamond Backs General Partner Jeff Moorad, Phoenix Mercury President and COO Jay Parry and others, made visits to show their support and help get Mark out of bed. Every person who dropped off canned food and/or donated money was eligible to enter to win the queen size Kingsdown bed Mark was in for three days. Twenty-eight Sleep America locations are serving as drop-off points in aid of St. Mary’s Food Bank’s mission to feed thousands of hungry families in Arizona. Last year the event collected over 3,626 lbs. of non-perishable items and $3,636.00 in cash donations. The food bank currently needs non-perishable food items like tuna, beans, pasta, canned vegetables, rice, cereal, juice (in plastic bottles), peanut butter and baby food. St. Mary’s Food Bank currently provides 221,000 meals a day through 715 sites throughout Arizona. For every $1 dollar donated, St. Mary’s can feed 7 people. Sleep America is the largest mattress retailer in Arizona. Founded in 1997 by Debbie Gaby and her husband, Len, Sleep America has over 150 employees and 44 store locations statewide. The duo blended their experience—his in the mattress supply and furniture industries and hers in interior design and real estate—to launch the venture. This year Sleep America proudly celebrates eleven successful years in business. For the Sleep America store nearest you call 1-888-94-SLEEP. For more information contact Patty Barney at 602.442.6525 patty.barney@sleepamerica.com or go to www.sleepamerica.com.