Texas man gives out warm sleeping bags to people in need

After an incident in his town tugged at his heart, Chris Bailey felt he had to do something to help his unhoused neighbors. Before he knew it, he was collecting hundreds of sleeping bags to spread warmth and love!

- Kellie B. Gormly

At the beginning of 2018, Chris Bailey’s heart ached as he watched the local news and learned that a woman had been found slumped over in a wheelchair, having frozen to death on a platform of the light rail system in Dallas.

That poor woman, Chris thought on that frigid January night. Nobody should have to get that cold and suffer like that.

He turned to his wife, Wendie, and said, “There’s got to be something we can do.”

Then the idea came to him: Let’s provide people in need with warm sleeping bags!

The next day, Chris, a contractor who owns a foundation repair company, started a sleeping bag drive. He created an Amazon wish list to request Coleman sleeping bags, which cost about $42 each, then spread the word on social media. Quickly, many generous people stepped in, and Chris got a few hundred sleeping bags shipped to his house in Trophy Club, Texas.

Chris loaded the sleeping bags onto a truck and delivered them to areas of the Dallas–Fort Worth region, where people experiencing homelessness tend to gather. They not only use the sleeping bags to sleep in if they don’t go to a shelter bed at night but they wrap the bags around themselves during the day to stay warm.

Chris has had many moving encounters with grateful recipients, and he especially remembers the woman named Rebecca in the blue-and-white striped sweater.

“Oh my gosh, I slept right here on this sidewalk last night and all I had was this sweater,” Rebecca told Chris after a frigid night of 29 degrees. “Thanks so much for this sleeping bag!”

Warming bodies and hearts