Liberty High School’s performing arts departments banded together on Sunday, Sept. 7, to host their annual Mattress Fundraiser in the school’s cafeteria to raise funding for the upcoming fall play and winter dance performances. The raised funds from this fundraiser have gone towards costumes, supplies, food, travel, and other expenses necessary to keep LHS Dance running, along with lighting and sound system upgrades for the LHS Theatre department.
Why Mattresses?
Since 2017, LHS Dance has been partnering with Custom Fundraising Solutions (CFS) Colorado Springs to host fundraisers. The theatre department started participating in the fundraiser this year, inviting Tony “The Mattress Guy” Gittings to speak to students in theatre and dance classes and provide students with the opportunity to volunteer to spread the word about the fundraiser.
While CFS does not have any mattress stores open for the general public, Gittings explained that the company uses multiple warehouses around the United States to get quality products for school fundraisers. Gittings explained, “We have several different actual factories that we order from. Some of the factories are here in Colorado, and some are in other states, but all of the beds are made in the US.”
Some of the cities CFS gets their products from include Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, Cypress, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Partnering with these other companies is what makes school fundraisers possible. As Gittings put it, “the cost of running individual stores would lower the amount of funds we can give to these schools. So, getting products from other manufacturers makes it possible for us to keep coming to schools.”
Liberty has hosted fundraisers in the past, with the most recent partnership being with Panda Express held on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. What sets the mattress fundraiser apart from other fundraisers, however, has to do with CFS staff and how easy they are to work with. The dance department head, Leslie Williams described CFS staff as, “amazing people [who] really care about supporting schools and giving as much back to schools as they possibly can.”
From Inside the Fundraiser
The success of the mattress fundraiser can be determined by the most sold item from previous years, and fan favorite items from the selection displayed on Sunday.
When asked about the most sold item from previous years, Gittings answered, “what I refer to as our Teddie Bear Mattress. It’s got a very soft top, and it’s very cozy. It’s a hybrid mattress, so it has some coils, innerspring, and memory foam.”
However, attendees at the fundraiser showed particular interest not in the mattresses themselves, but the massage chairs and cooling pillows that were put on display. One attendee even went as far as to say that the massage chairs were “the best eight minutes of my life.”
Overall, the Mattress Fundraiser was declared a success by the Liberty performing arts department, and the hosts of the fundraiser are continuing to calculate just how much profit came from Sunday.