"I knew there was a need, I didn't know how great the need was going to be."
Roger Dorsey graduated from Elyria West High School in 1988. In seventh grade, Roger moved from West Virginia to Elyria with his mom and siblings to escape a domestic violence situation. They moved in with an aunt and cousins in an Elyria home that was roughly 1,000 square feet. "We had seven children and two adult women living in that house," Roger said. "Myself, my brother and two cousins were all about the same age; we shared one bedroom that had two beds. Most nights my bed was in the closet on a pile of clothes. So I knew (having a bed) had been a need for me personally but I didn't realize the scope of it." In 2018, Roger and his wife of 35 years--also and Elyria West graduate--learned of a national organization that built beds for kids that didn't have beds. Not even 24 hours passed before Roger was on the phone with the organization's founders and making plans to visit its headquarters in Idaho. There's been a lot of learning and growing since, and Roger and his wife now head up their own non-profit company with the same mission: bringing beds to kids who don't have beds. The company is called Good Knights, located in Amherst, and with the help of hundreds of volunteers and sponsors, the Dorsey's have built thousands of beds for families in need. Learn more about Roger and his remarkable work in Lorain County or visit Good Knights online at www.goodknightsofLC.org.
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