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The Down East Seniors Club held their Sept. 14 meeting at the
Blind Center of NC in Washington. President Roy Whichard led the
meeting. Jim Hackney played for the singing of “God Bless America” and
the group pledged allegiance to the flag. Charles Smith gave the
opening prayer and Hackney provided factoids for the date in history.

Julius Brauer introduced Lee Bowen as the speaker. Bowen and his wife
are co-owners of KidKusion, Inc. KidKusion is a local company that
produces safety items, teething items, and feeding accessories for
babies. These are all items that the Bowens have designed and are
manufacturing.

They began in the early 90’s when their children were
toddlers by searching for something to cushion the edges of their
fireplace hearth so their children wouldn’t get injured by falling on
it. When they couldn’t find any products, they decided to make
their own. At the time they were living and working day jobs in
Charlotte, so they showed their idea to the manager of the Baby Super
Store there and he told them there would be a good market for it.

They initially sold their product by mail order, then later through Lowe’s,
Walmart, and Amazon.

Later, they designed and began making other baby products. In the late 90’s they quit their day jobs, devoted full time to their baby product business, and decided to move to Washington where Lee grew up and had a home. Now their three sons are involved in the business along with 25 employees.

Whichard won the 50/50 drawing.

Next week’s program will be Matthew Jackson speaking about foster care
and child protective services.

The Down East Seniors Club is a group of older men in the Washington
area who meet for fellowship and an interesting program Wednesdays
from 10:00 to 11:00 and make contributions to local charities.