In 1977, Lynn and her daughter (nicknamed Bean) moved to Alaska. Two years later in 1979, Lynn leased an empty warehouse to serve as a day shelter for people who were hungry and homeless. A team of volunteers - including individuals experiencing homelessness - stepped in to help paint and remodel the facility. The empty warehouse was transformed into a center where people without homes could come to eat, rest, read, watch TV, make phone calls, and just relax. The center was dubbed Bean’s Cafe.

In 1998, Kid's Cafe, a non-profit organization feeding at risk children in the Anchorage area, was in search of a stable, responsible board of directors.  Bean's Cafe immediately realized that their mission of feeding the hungry should extend to children of our community.  This sparked a vision of "prevention" and Kid's Cafe became a program of Bean's Cafe.  In 2004, Kid's Cafe was renamed The Children's Lunchbox.

In 2023, we purposefully began utilizing one of our larger buildings, renovated the kitchen and expanded our warehouse to create what is now the third largest commercial kitchen in Alaska. With the fully renovated kitchen and larger warehouse, we now have the capacity to make up to 10,000 meals each day and store up to 40,000 pantry packs at a time. 2023 also saw the addition of a new venture for Bean’s through a therapeutic community called Streets to Success.   While we are committed to continuing our efforts to meet emergencies and feed those in need, we recognize the importance of addressing the root causes of homelessness.