Leona Bright, wife of Southeast Sacramento Kiwanis club member Vern Bright, heard about the need for temporary housing, and asked her husband, “Why doesn’t Kiwanis do something about this?” The idea was born and a group of Kiwanis Club members found a site, donated by the UC Davis Medical Center. They purchased five surplus construction trailers, converted them into a seven bedroom facility, and provided furnishings, carpeting, appliances, and all that was required to make the Kiwanis Family House a home.

The Kiwanis Family House was built through the efforts of many Kiwanis club volunteers from the Sacramento area. It opened on July 23, 1984 to answer an urgent need for temporary housing for the families of pediatric patients at the UCD Children’s Hospital in Sacramento. Prior to our response, there were no accommodations available at the hospital, and no nearby hotel or motel facilities that were safe and affordable. When a child was in a life-threatening condition as a result of cystic fibrosis, cancer, prenatal difficulties, or trauma from an accident, the distraught families who needed to be near their child were forced to sleep in their cars, with no access to bathing, bathrooms, laundry facilities or a place to gain respite from their overwhelming fears.