About Us
Lions 4 Kids House was founded in September 2006 by Carol Wells-Reed and sponsored by the Bonney Lake Lions Club,
to benefit over 1500 children in the Sumner/Bonney Lake School District who qualified for free and reduced lunch programs, a shocking number given these are outwardly middle-class communities.
With the support of the City of Bonney Lake and hundreds of donors and volunteers Lions 4 Kids House has expanded since that time to serve qualifying children in five local school districts – Sumner, Dieringer, Orting, Carbonado and White River – with a combined total of over 4000 school-age children who live in poverty.
This total does not include younger siblings or children who are home schooled.
Children must be referred to Lions 4 Kids House from their schools, local food banks or family centers. Upon their first visit the children may select a full complement of excellent quality new or “gently-used” clothing, shoes, coats, new socks and underwear, personal care items, school supplies, books, videos and toys. They may return once per month to replenish personal care items and replace worn or outgrown clothing. Tidiness haircuts are provided by volunteer stylists once each month. In this way the children are able to stay clean, groomed and on a level playing field with their peers.
In mid-2008 Lions 4 Kids House was notified by the City of Bonney Lake they would be moved to a new location nearby, a former circa-1976 residence. Carol submitted a lengthy list of proposed modifications to the City then requested materials donations and volunteer labor from throughout the area to renovate the dark, smelly building and overgrown yard into a clean, beautiful place for children to feel worthy and valued.
After $125,000 in donated materials and thousands of hours of volunteer labor, the new building was opened in March 2009 and includes an outbuilding for storage and a tactile, child-friendly Serenity Garden. The building has been aptly dubbed “The House that Love Built”.
Because our young clients may return monthly, annual attendance figures are counted by “visits”. During our first school year, 2006-07, there were 635 visits!