From sleep to play, Elledge nominated for work with kids

After the last game, there was a cookout with hot dogs, cotton candy, snow cones, chips and drinks. The S&M Donut food truck and an ice cream truck were out there. It was a party, all free for the players.

There was a human tunnel for the close to 40 players to run through as their name was announced with some walk-up music on the sound system. Poplar Bluff Junior High cheerleaders were there to perform during the games.

This is Buddy Ball. Its motto is, “The game is the same, only different.”

“It’s a blast. It all comes down to seeing the joy on the players’ faces,” said organizer Dave Elledge. “This is kind of their one big sports event, where they can put on a uniform, grab a glove, get out on the field and be like anybody else.”

Buddy Ball is a non-profit organization, which provides sports services at no cost to persons with mental and physical developmental disabilities.

“I can’t even tell you how much our little one looks forward to it,” said Carol Ann Huck. “They run for all their worth, and they are grinning from ear to ear. If the kids are in wheelchairs, their buddies push them along the bases. It’s just something you can’t put value into words.”

Huck nominated Elledge for the Daily American Republic’s Difference Maker of the Year for his work with Buddy Ball, as well as the Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization.

“I woke up in the middle of the night one night, and I think God put it in my heart. Dave Elledge needs to be nominated for what he does for these kids,” Huck said.

Elledge works in the background of Buddy Ball on social media and helps with the uniforms and graphic designs. He became a board member after the original creators moved to Florida, and after that, he became more involved in its administrative aspect.

There is a common trait between the two organizations: the smile on the kids’ faces.

“We hear from parents and caregivers that these kids wear their uniforms and jerseys all year long,” Elledge said. “To see how much they enjoy it, it makes it all worthwhile.”

Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a relatively new national organization, which makes beds for children, who don’t have beds of their own.

“Just the excitement on the kid’s face when he knows, this is my bed, this is my space,” Elledge said. “In some of these situations, that’s one of the few things that’s theirs.”

In 2018, former “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Roe featured Sleep in Heavenly Peace on a show he did called “Returning the Favor.” There were about 10 chapters at the time, but the episode springboarded the organization nationally to more than 200 chapters.

Elledge, who is on the Bright Futures board in Poplar Bluff, learned about Sleep in Heavenly Peace at a Kansas City conference.

His wife, a school counselor in Poplar Bluff, said children without beds were a huge issue in the community.

After investigating the issue, Elledge started the Poplar Bluff chapter in August 2019.

Since then, they’ve performed three build days where people come together to build beds and have built 110 beds so far.

“We’ve had a great response from the community,” Elledge said. “We can knock out 30 beds in about four hours.”

But, they don’t deliver just a wooden twin bed frame. The child also gets a mattress, sheets, comforter, pillows and blanket.

“When we go to deliver a bed to a child, they get everything,” Elledge said. “It’s pretty cool to walk out of a house knowing a kid has got a place to sleep tonight on a bed that they can call their own.”