Business students at Mid-America Christian University broke a Guinness World Record last week by creating the world’s longest line of sleeping bags.
On Friday, April 22, the students lined up 550 sleeping bags on the university’s campus in south Oklahoma City, shattering the previous record of 253 set in India in 2016. The sleeping bags were then distributed to local charities and churches to help Oklahomans in need.
Almost all of the sleeping bags were purchased by students, who raised money in various ways throughout the semester to fund the project. Students detailed cars, made and sold tie-dyed apparel, held bake sales, put together holiday-themed baskets for Valentine’s Day and Easter, provided cleaning services to local businesses and sold used sporting goods through Facebook Marketplace to raise the necessary funds.
So far, multiple agencies have received some of the sleeping bags, including The Homeless Alliance in Oklahoma City and First Baptist Church of Norman and Mission Norman.
The project was organized by MACU business professor Coleman Patterson and played a key role in several of his business classes this semester.
“This project was good on so many levels,” Patterson said. “All of my students now have first-hand experience seeing how an idea can be brought to life with vision, passion, commitment, teamwork and organization. Most importantly, hundreds of people in the OKC metro area are being helped through this project.”
It will take about 12 weeks for MACU to receive official notification and certification honoring the new world record.