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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lions Club Plays Santa For Families In Need

Bruce Krasnow Staff writer

Jake and Bonny Maravilla started with six pairs of knit gloves - one pair for each child.

After 90 minutes spent navigating their way through rows of clothing racks at the Northpointe Target store, the Maravillas’ shopping cart was loaded with sleepers, sweat clothes, underwear, socks, and brightly colored outfits with characters from eight different movies.

“Oh, she’s going to die,’ said Bonny, showing off a Power Ranger T-shirt she had picked out for her daughter. “She’s the pink Power Ranger. They each have one.”

The pink Power Ranger T-shirt and the rest of the clothes were going under the family’s Christmas tree courtesy of the North Suburban Spokane Lions Club.

With six children, the couple seldom venture into stores like Target. They are regulars at Value Village, Goodwill and God’s Warehouse. But Saturday they were offered a $75 shopping spree for each of their six kids, who range in age from 1 to 8.

The Lions club, which meets at Wandermere Golf Course, will spend more than $8,000 on North Side families this Christmas.

Under the program, now in its 10th year, mothers are taken shopping without their children and allowed to purchase clothing.

The families are found through school counselors, nurses and teachers in suburban north Spokane. Three hundred names were referred this year, but there’s only enough money to serve about 100 kids.

The club doesn’t reveal to the families how they found out about their need.

“We just tell them, ‘An angel told us,”’ said Vivian Peterson, owner of a Deer Park hair salon. “One lady started crying.”

Peterson was one of the Lions who spent Saturday at Target to usher families through the store and pay for the merchandise.

Lions Club members said the project is the most rewarding of the year - and the most expensive. A great deal of the money raised each year by the 47-member club goes to the shopping spree.

The Northpointe Target was chosen because of its central location - the club serves Mead, Colbert, Deer Park and unincorporated North Spokane.

Target offers a 10 percent discount to the program, making the group’s charity dollar go even further.

“You can’t believe the smiles on the faces when they leave. This is Christmas for them,” said Peterson.

For the Maravillas the shopping spree was indeed like a gift from the angels.

Jake was raised in Spokane and attended Cooper Elementary and Shaw Middle School before dropping out of Rogers High School.

Neither works, and they rent 13 acres on Highway 2 in Colbert so their six kids have space to run around. When they do go out as a family, often loaded into a 1974 Dodge, “people look at us as if we’re crazy,” said Jake.

Jake, 31, collects disability, and the family also receives Aid for Families with Dependent Children and food stamps. Still, that doesn’t leave much for Christmas.

For toys, they’ve been to both Toys for Tots and The Christmas Bureau, a holiday charity sponsored by The Spokesman-Review.

Bonny, 30, said she won’t turn down any help.

“It’s for my kids. I’ll do anything for my kids,” she said.

At Target, they concentrated on matching outfits and special clothing they could not otherwise afford.

They bought Barbie pajamas and clothes featuring Batman, the Riddler, Lion King and various other Disney characters and those from the “Toy Store” film.

Holding up a purple sweat-pants outfit, Bonny’s face lighted up with a broad smile.

“Boy, they’re going to be snazzy,”’ she said.

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