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Presentation to Bonney Lake Lions Club
Thursday, August 14, 2008
By Carol Wells-Reed

Thank you Bibiana for allowing me to speak today, and sincere thanks to our volunteers, several of whom are here today, who are the lifeblood of our program. We simply could not do what we do without them.

The mission of Lions 4 Kids House is very simple: "we provide the tools children living in poverty need to be nicely attired, clean and groomed with the supplies necessary to be successful in school."

Lions 4 Kids House is just two weeks shy of being situated for two years in the little blue building in front of the library. This landmark encourages a look back.

The seeds of what would eventually become Lions 4 Kids were originally sown by our first Bonney Lake Lions president, Ken Freed, who in July of 2005 suggested we partner with the Sumner School District to collect school supplies and personal care items for kids in poverty.

Marilee Hill-Anderson, director of the school district's STARR project and LuAnn Ugas, manager of the Sumner Family Center, spoke to our new club about the numbers and the needs. With the support of our generous community we collected so many supplies that we created another problem for the District: nowhere to put them. The items were stashed under desks, in corners and closets, wherever there was a little room.

I became aware of the space issue in later conversations with Marilee and asked her what the main need was and she replied: "a clothing bank for the kids." She went on to relate that the district had neither the staff, the space, nor the funds available to create such an entity. When a child came to school improperly attired, the Family Center had a small supply of sweatshirts, pants or shoes to offer, but this was a one-time fix. What they needed was something more.

My twelve years as a volunteer with the Gene Tone School for homeless children in Tacoma had helped me realize how important decent clothing and being clean is to a child's success. That started bells ringing in my brain. "I can do that".

I began asking around the community about whether there would be support for a clothing bank for kids in poverty. The Bonney Lake Lions discussed models and options; the business community said they'd do what they could; the City of Bonney Lake did as well.

Shortly thereafter Dr. Martin and Andrea Henschell offered the building they own behind Albertson's on South Prairie Road as a temporary first home. We began pursuing remodel plans. But when the remodel took longer than expected to get underway, the City of Bonney Lake offered us a home, without asking for references, financial information or a business plan, which at the time was a really good thing because we had none of that.

We were only armed with alarming statistics on the number of kids in the Sumner School District who live in poverty, knowledge derived from my years at Tone School and a whole bunch of good intentions. We didn't know where our volunteers, clothing or other resources would come from, and we didn't know if we'd have clients. Frankly we didn't have a clue about much of anything.

It took a year following those initial discussions with the School District to open our doors, but now 102 weeks later, Lions 4 Kids has expanded to include the Dieringer, White River and Orting School Districts to our service area and have had over 2000 visitations by children in need.

We have orchestrated two prom projects helping a total of 49 high school seniors living in poverty attend this landmark event with the assistance of over 200 community Fairy Godmothers and Fathers and hundreds more donors.

Our 40 volunteers log an average of 210 hours per month to keep us operational, and this month during our Back to School event will log double that.

At our first Back to School event in 2006 we were open two days for 16 hours and assisted 58 children; our first two days last week we were open 8 hours and outfitted more than double that number. Given the anticipated need for clothing this year, we are scheduled to be open for a total of 11 days this month, nearly twice our usual schedule.

In the month of July alone we served 185 children.

We have forged partnerships with McNeil Island Corrections Center for laundry, and Northwest Center for recycling textile items we are unable to use. We are paid $.07 per pound for these items such as sheets, towels, adult clothing, soiled children's clothes, etc. and have an income from this of nearly $100 a month which will buy us 12 packages of underwear. Many of our local schools allow us to pick up their unclaimed lost and found clothing monthly or quarterly.

We offer a training program once a month for prospective volunteers and they shadow our seasoned volunteers for a few weeks until they feel comfortable with procedures.

We have learned that most people know someone who knows someone who knows someone who is willing to help us with some aspect of our mission. That was how we became affiliated with McNeil Island and Northwest Center and it is how we are beginning to accumulate building materials and volunteers for our new building project.

Because we are extremely picky about the condition of the items Our Kids receive, our racks are full of absolutely gorgeous clothes in perfect condition, and the support from our communities in donations and volunteers has been breathtaking.

We recycle virtually everything out of our building including cardboard, plastic bags, and unusable toys and clothing, usually only generating one bag of real "garbage" per week which, considering the amount of resources we receive, is quite a feat.

Our greatest resource is our volunteers. They serve in so many ways. We have David Colbeth, our webmaster, who keeps the community apprised of our activities. His wife Lynn, mother of a new daughter, measures laundry detergent into plastic bags at home.

April Young is our housekeeper and true Jill of all trades. She does so much for us. Iona Catonio is our "keeper of the clothes", quasi-manager of the facility and does an amazing job of making sure everything we display is in perfect condition and is fashion-forward. She has connected with numerous resources in the community to help bring in lost and found items that our kids can use. Dana Williams and her two youngsters sort and put away for hours at a time; Andrea Henschell keeps our volunteer schedule going, making sure we have enough helpers in the building during open hours to serve our clients. She too is a busy mom of three, including an infant.

There are numerous volunteers who are checking school supply boxes out in the community during August and bringing donations to the clothing bank weekly.

Kurt and Serena Vilhelmsen and their associates are sponsoring the Family Movie Night at Sumner's Rainier View Park on August 29th with proceeds from food and activities concessions to benefit Lions 4 Kids. SO many people contribute in many, many ways.

Our greatest challenge is keeping socks, underwear and personal care items in stock and having the funds to purchase them. While the children receive underwear only once every six months, they are able to replenish personal care items monthly. With the sheer numbers of children we are serving and with worsening economic times, we go through considerable resources.

Every six weeks to two months we'll spend $1000 or more on socks and underwear in a retail store such as Target, Walmart or Fred Meyer, whomever has a sale. Each child is allotted six pairs of socks and six pairs of underwear - enough to get them through a week. We've been unable to find any distributor or manufacturing resources to date for these items.

We make every effort to supply the girls of all ages with pretty hipster or bikini styles and boys of middle-school age with boxers. Most kids of both genders seem to prefer the no-show style of socks. While some will say beggars can't be choosers, we believe it imperative we help the children feel good about themselves and how they look, right down to the skin, to enable them to fit in with their peers.

It is not uncommon to spend $300-500 per month at the Dollar Store on full size tubes of toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, shaving gear and sanitary supplies. So far this has been the most consistently economical resource for these items. We do have an orthodontist now who provides our toothbrushes, though.

We purchase huge boxes of granular detergent at Costco and bag it in individual Ziplock bags, two cups to a bag. The detergent is then distributed to the families, one bag per child per month up to a total of five bags. This enables the older children to wash their clothing thereby giving them some control over their own appearance.


All of our hard work is paying off as we are now seeing report cards from our young clients showing dramatic improvement in grades from last year to this, as well as improved school attendance, especially among teens. We don't know that it's all because of Lions 4 Kids, but we do know that children who arrive their first day of school in dirty clothes much too small, without underwear, and in mismatched adult flip-flops held together with tape, or on wet, cold days in falling-apart shoes now have access once a month to multiple changes of clothing, personal care items, and detergent to wash their clothes.

We've experienced the smiles, hugs, joy and excitement of the children who benefit from the generosity of strangers. We receive gratitude from the parents who don't have to watch their kids struggle quite so much in school and who can use their scant resources to help pay for food, utilities or rent.

We have received positive feedback from the school's teachers and administrators for the availability of resources for the kids they care about so much.

And there are we volunteers who wonder often who is really receiving the gift, the kids or us, as we are privileged to watch children bloom and miracles unfold every single day.

The reasons for their poverty are as numerous as the children themselves and are complex. But every circumstance is beyond the control of a child, so Lions 4 Kids strives to give these kids a shot at equality in school.

Studies overwhelmingly show that children who don't feel they fit in with their peers are more likely to do poorly in school, drop out altogether, get into mischief or in trouble with the law. Derision in our early life has implications far beyond the classroom well into our adult lives.

Lions 4 Kids provides the TOOLS the children need to be clean, groomed and attired to put them on a more level playing field with their peers so they aren't subjected to ridicule. Their appearance is one thing they now DO have control over.

If we can KEEP the kids in school to graduation, discovering and nurturing their personal gifts, and encourage them to pursue post high school education, they stand a much better chance to hold a sustaining job, stay off the welfare rolls and break the cycle of poverty as adults. This is a winning scenario for ALL of us!

Our amazing journey began quite innocently two years ago in the little blue house by the library. But it continues deliberately with a solid foundation and a clear vision for the future.

From the children we have served in the past, the ones we will serve in the future, and from me, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the gift of your faith and trust; for giving us and the children a chance to fly, something that in the beginning we didn't even know we wanted to do. With your support, YOU are making a difference.


Now, onto the topic of our new facility! The lease agreement was approved by the Bonney Lake City Council on Tuesday evening, August 12th, and we are so grateful for their support. The building is located at 18429-89th St. E. in Bonney Lake right around the corner from our present location. We plan to start demolition of interior walls and outbuildings on Saturday, August 23rd.

In the interim and in the aftermath we will be working on finding materials donations and volunteers to help with putting the place back together. We do have a licensed general contractor, electrician and plumber (thanks to Bruce and Janet Emig's son, Karl), and the pledge of volunteers from Home Depot, Fred Meyer and Walmart in addition to individuals in the community who have expressed an interest in participating.

Materials donations in this difficult economic environment are proving more difficult to come by. We have spoken with all five home improvement stores in our area: Home Depot, Lowe's, Arrow Lumber, McLendon and Lumbermen's. Arrow will sell us materials at cost; McLendon has provided a $100 gift card and a 20% discount on other purchases. Home Depot, Lowe's and Lumbermen's are working through their corporate channels at this time. We are so grateful for their assistance.

We have posted a letter and materials list on our website and sent it online to numerous community members asking for assistance as well. One of our Lions members has four sheets of sheetrock in her garage…this, along with one or two sheets from several other folks will add up to get the job done!

Home Depot has been able to assist with some items that were freight damaged or non-returnable. Some of their suppliers are assisting as well.

If someone knows commercial builders who may be willing to donate some unused materials, it would be wonderful!

We have an offer of a used washer and dryer from one of our Lions members so we can launder donations of white clothing that need brightening.
410 Rentals has agreed to loan us tools and equipment at no charge. A little bit from many sources will make this happen! Our goal is to be open before the end of October.

The exterior will be gray with white trim, black shutters on the front windows and a red door. The red door is a symbol of welcome, good luck and refuge. We feel this symbolism is appropriate.

Inside, the walls will be a pale sunny yellow with bright non-gender, non-age specific window toppers and a cheerful sitting area for waiting clients. There will be four fitting rooms for our young clients, and the bathroom will be compliant to enable physically challenged clients to try on clothing.

We use 18-gallon plastic bins for our inventory as it enables us to be very specific in labeling sizes, items and gender of what's inside. This in turn makes it easy for our volunteers to find an item that may not be on our racks for a client. We'll have lots of shelves in our workroom to store those bins.

We'll have lighted parking on the back of the property for clients and volunteers. And lights inside! One of the challenges we face presently is poor indoor lighting. We hope to have a total of 18 track lighting systems in the new building to enable us to see what we're doing!

In an effort to be ecologically responsible we'd like to reinsulated the attic and install new energy-efficient windows throughout the building.

For the future: we want to provide monthly haircutting services for children; we hope to expand our buildings eventually to add two surplus school portables on the back of the property. One would give us room for additional storage but also to provide an adult professional clothing bank so the parents can be nicely attired in looking for work and being at work. We'd like to have our own conference/classroom as we have community members who have offered to tutor children and teach their parents about interviewing skills, dressing for success, parenting skills, how to prepare healthy meals on a food bank budget, etc.

We are also creating a Serenity Garden to add to the existing great bones of the property. Many of Our Kids have never smelled a rose or a lilac. They've never touched the little fuzzy "rabbit ears" plants. We will create walkways through one side of the property with a sitting area and a pondless water feature so they can sit awhile and find some quiet and peace, as many live in chaotic conditions. We'll add lavender, "money plants" and other aromatic and visual delights. When we get to that part of the project we invite members of our community to contribute items from their own gardens.

This new building will give us a beautiful, bright and joyous place to serve Our Kids into the future which we expect to be eight to ten years at least.

We can't control anything that goes on outside our walls, but we can and DO make a difference in what we do control. The opportunities are endless, and unfortunately so are the needs. But as we look back on what we have accomplished in just 102 weeks and the miracles that have occurred, we are encouraged and optimistic that we can continue changing the lives of children who are OUR FUTURE!

Thank you so much for your support!