More than 30 of Bermuda's poorest children who are forced to share a bed with their parents or brothers and sisters are about to have their Christmas wishes answered.

A major fundraising campaign has secured money to buy 26 beds, and organisers are confident they will hit their target of 32 by Christmas.

High rental costs have caused families to cram into tiny apartments, resulting in many children having to sleep with their siblings or parents, according to the Coalition for the Protection of Children.

The Coalition has teamed up with Trimingham's to buy 32 beds, including space-saving bunk beds.

The department store is urging members of the public to think of the needy this festive season and buy a raffle ticket for the appeal.

Coalition chairperson Sheelagh Cooper said last night that her organisation had come across 32 children sharing beds with siblings or parents.

She said: "We must find a way to help our most needy children in a community that is so wealthy.

"We need to all be a bit more generous to people in that plight, so we would be grateful if we could find people willing to donate.

"We often have multiple families living in small apartments who don't have enough space for beds for everyone. It is a big problem.

"The underlying issue is the lack of affordable housing which means several families are forced to live in small apartments. As a result of this lack of space, many times the mother has to sleep with one or two children or you get children having to sleep together.

"We are going to be giving bunk beds which are specially designed to fit into small spaces to increase the usable bed space.'' Mrs. Cooper said more than half of the single households headed by black mothers fell below the poverty line.

"As a result, a significant proportion of children in Bermuda fall below the poverty line,'' she said. "In my opinion, the biggest single factor in child abuse is the lack of space. It is more to do with housing than poor parenting.

"With most of the parents, it is not that they don't have the skills, it is that they don't use the skills because they are so stressed out that anger gets the better of them. If we can focus on this, we will do well, so that would be my Christmas wish.'' Trimingham's approached the Coalition because it wanted to get involved with a charity as part of its Christmas Extravaganza celebrations.

The company agreed to order the beds at a cost of $250 each, which should be delivered in time for Christmas. Tickets for the raffle for an office desk are available in all Trimingham's stores.

Shirley Richardson of Trims Plus, who chairs the committee dealing with raising money for the beds, said: "It is really exciting and it is something we felt the need to do.

"As human beings, we need to make sure we are giving something back to society.'' CLUB CLB