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A 5-year-old boy from Libertyville asked for bedding for his birthday. He then donated the gifts to help other kids in need.

All 5-year-old Tyler Sliz wanted for his birthday was bedding.

When the moment arrived to open up gifts during his birthday party last fall, Tyler, a Libertyville resident, didn’t know what to expect after he made the unusual request of his friends. After all, most 5-year-old kids want nothing to do with sheets, blankets and pillows.

“I started to open them and everyone brought bedding,” Tyler recalled recently. “I felt happy.”

But for Tyler, his request came with a purpose in mind. The birthday party started an ongoing charitable project after he learned about the bed ministry at his church in Libertyville, St. Joseph Catholic Church.

The church sponsors a local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit with chapters in 44 states and three countries that builds and delivers beds, complete with all the materials, for children who don’t have them at home.

Tyler was eager to help the cause and wanted his friends to join him, prompting the birthday request, his parents, Jackie and Brad Sliz, said.

Tyler said he decided to collect and deliver donated bedding to the local chapter after he was told he could not help build the actual beds until he was 12 years old.

“I help carry it in,” he said, describing how he pushes laundry carts full of bedding into the building. “Five-year-olds can put bolts (for the beds) in bags.”

Tyler had his own goal of collecting 100 items for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, the family said. By early January, he and his family delivered 119 pillows, blankets or sets of sheets.

Dan Harris, who started the Libertyville chapter in 2018, said the donated beds are delivered mostly to homes in Lake and McHenry counties but also some shelters, helping out kids who range in age from 3 to 17.

The timing of Tyler’s birthday idea and his subsequent donations also have assisted the chapter greatly by helping cut down the number of kids waiting to receive beds in the area, Harris said.

“We want to make sure no kid sleeps on the floor in our town,” Harris said of the mission of the local chapter.

Jackie and Brad Sliz also have had the pleasure of watching firsthand Tyler’s commitment to the cause.

They’ve helped him shop for materials and they assist him on his donation drop-offs. His grandmother, Sherry Ziegler, who lives in Deerfield, also has helped with collecting donations and taking Tyler on shopping trips.

When planning the birthday party, Tyler was adamant about receiving bedding as gifts, according to Jackie Sliz.

“He didn’t want anything else,” she said.

Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.