Terry Corwin and her son Spencer, then 13 years old, were driving after visiting her parents in the summer of 2004. Mother and son started discussing avenues for Spencer and his friends to give back to the community. This mother of two concluded that no organization in the area provided a broad-based platform for doing so. Thus, Lion’s Heart Teen Volunteers and Leaders was born.

The very first group project was collecting new hygiene items that became kits for an orphanage in Mexico. The group split up into smaller groups of 2-3 and organized themselves in front of different grocery stores in the community. They typed up a note asking for donations and politely handed them out to shoppers entering the store and collecting the items as they left the store. At the next meeting, the boys created an assembly line armed with large plastic bags to create hygiene kits. Over 200 kits were made that night.

Those hygiene items have long since been used, but the memory of helping others and the inspiration to continue has endured for these original members and thousands to follow in their footsteps. Thank you, Class of 2010, and congratulations to all 12 of the original members who started in 2004, continued all six years of Lion’s Heart, and then graduated from college!