The gift of a good night’s sleep: the CEO who donates luxury quilts and leaves to families who most need rest

The message had the brevity of CEO because it came from that: Julie Sweet, Managing Director of the Accenture consulting firm. Sweet spends his days advising some of the most influential business leaders in the world and leading a company with more than 770,000 employees. And for several days, she also takes time for Furnishhopedc, a community organization that gives new and used household items to families who need them who live in district 7 and DC DC.

Furnishhopedc has equipped more than 900 houses since its launch five years ago; Over the past three years, Sweet has been responsible for more than half of the houses that the organization has served. It gives at least 10 twin beds, including mattresses and executives, per month to the charity, and bought more than 400 bags of bedding, which each cost more than $ 200. Inside these bags are duvets or duvets, blankets, sheets of sheets, pillowcases, pillows, squshmallows (for children’s beds) and throws. Sweet also donates new high -end beauty products, toys, pots and pots, but most of its energy enters the bedding. “The sheets she gives us, I swear, are of better quality than the sheets on which I sleep,” explains Mock.

Mackenzie Stroh photograph for fortune

Sweet’s attention on bedding is not random or simply reflecting his personal obsession. The CEO, who grew up in a cleaning of the working class in California, sees bedding – and a good night’s sleep – as “critic for adults and children to be able to succeed,” she said Fortune. A charming and welcoming bed, she said, gives people “a place of refuge every day”.

“Often, these families live in expensive neighborhoods, and the only place they can call theirs is their bed,” said Sweet in an email. “Having a good quality bed allows them to sleep better, which is so important for health and being able to have a positive state of mind and the strength to do the very difficult things they have to do.”

The sleep fracture is real

In recent years, sleep has become a market worth hundreds of billions worldwide, populated by high -tech mattresses, data collection clothes, sleep apnea devices, etc. The a hundred and hundreds of which are busy optimizing all aspects of their diet and their lifestyle, taking into account more or who live more are happy to make follies on sleep purchases with big tickets. And where the CEOs boasted once to manage with four hours of REM, they have now taken the trend of the Z generation of “Sleep-Maxxing”.

However, research has shown that not sleeping sufficiently is a higher problem for people who earn less and live in low -income neighborhoods, not stressed white passes and executives. The reasons for what some call the “large sleep fracture” are varied and complex, but studies suggest that the culprits include stress, unemployment or the work of several works. Living in overcrowded circumstances, and in districts with high levels of light and noise pollution and fewer green spaces, can also play a role.

Research has validated a link between cognitive function and good sleep habits. If you are extremely deprived of sleep, your brain works as well as for someone who is drunk, which does not increase well for their performance at work or at school. Having too little sleep can also land a person’s mood and motivation. In the long term, good sleep habits are correlated with healthy aging, and poor sleep is now considered a risk factor for chronic diseases such as heart disease and, for adults in their forties, dementia.

Meanwhile, the high cost of purchasing beds and bedding can be an obstacle to families equipped with a house, especially for those who leave homelessness, which are part of families’ non-profit services. This year, prices seem to be involved even more bedding costs, because the vast majority of bed waters are made abroad.

Better than money

Sweet shops online for bedding to donate and keep an eye on sales, Mock explains. “When she sees one, she calls and says:” How many of these elements do you love? “” When President Trump revealed his price plans, Sweet contacted, wondering what she should buy before the prices push higher prices.

The CEO is the only donor to always give the organization of new sheets, and the only selection of prints with unicorns, cars and rockets for children, and lush colors for adults. “I can say that she really likes this part, choosing the different designs, then imagining what the child gets what,” says Mock. “I don’t know when she has time to do it, because each bag is different.”

The non -profit fields are messing up with Sweet messages at all hours of the day, even when it is 2 or 3 am in the time zone where Sweet moves.

Mock says that she and her partner Adriane Herbert sometimes have to explain to people how to use a duvet and a duvet duvet, because they did not have before, and she had to persuade sweetness to stop including steering wheel, which can allow bedbugs, mouses and cockroaches too easily.

Whenever Mock is there to see a new bed assembled, she takes a photo and sends it to Sweet to show the real person at the reception.

“It’s so much better than getting money,” says Mock. “She takes her time, her efforts and, obviously, money, but it’s really her heart and her soul.”