LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio — Roger Dorsey is working hard so kids in Lorain County can get a good night's rest.


What You Need To Know

  • Good Knights is an all-volunteer organization that donates beds, sheets and other supplies for children in need

  • Good Knights collaborates with other nonprofit organizations, churches and schools

  • The goal is to meet a demand of about 600 beds annually

"My purpose in life today is to put kids in beds, and I may not be able to get every child in a bed, but I know I can get at least one more," said Dorsey, the executive director of Good Knights of Lorain County.

When Dorsey was just 12 years old, his family moved from West Virginia to Elyria to escape domestic violence. The Dorseys moved into a small home with relatives, so Roger had nowhere to sleep.

"From the time I was 12 years old to about 14, 15 years old, I slept in a closet, normally on just a pile of clothes," said Dorsey. 

Thousands of children in Lorain County go without a bed each night, and Dorsey knows just how those children feel. 

"Going to bed for me, it wasn't a happy time. it wasn't a time I looked forward to, but it was something I dreaded, and I just kinda got used to it," said Dorsey. 

Last summer, during the pandemic, Dorsey founded Good Knights of Lorain County, a nonprofit dedicated to serving low-income families with beds plus sheets and comforters. 

Volunteers staff the bed-making facility in Amherst, and each work station is designed to build a separate part of the bed frame. Dorsey can always use more help.

"What it truly is to be blessed stop looking at yourself and try and help somebody else, and that's what we are trying to do with these kids just trying to put ourselves aside and help these kids, one child at a time so they can have a good nights sleep," said Dorsey. 

Since last September, Good Knights has built and donated more than 300 beds for children in Lorain County.