Finding support, care and friendship during life's up and downs will be as easy as taking a seat for students at Welcome Bay School.

The school is one of four in Tauranga who are recipients of a social action project which has been led by Welcome Bay Lions.

The project has seen friendship seats donated to Welcome Bay School, Selwyn Ridge Primary School, Maungatapu School and Tauranga Waldorf School.

Welcome Bay Lions member and past president Suez Reid says the seats are a safe space for children who are lonely, being bullied, sad or need support can.

'I had first heard about friendship seats about four years ago and ever since I had wanted to implement something similar within my own community,” says Suez.

'What it is, is a seat in a known place where children who are being bullied or feeling lonely can go to find support. When people see anyone on the seat they know that person needs help.”

But the chair isn't just for what's going on at home.

'Sometimes children can have issues going on in their home, which they don't know how to bring up, so this chair is a safe place and good starting point for bringing awareness to those issues,” she says.

Suez says in her tenure as president she was able to pick one community project to support.

'I was president last year, and this was the project I chose to focus on.”

The chairs have been a joint effort from all of the members in the Lions' club who together have worked to organise the project, fundraise to pay for it and even build the chairs.

Suez says Welcome Bay builder and Lions' member Jim Gilmore has been more than happy to jump on board, building all of the chairs himself.

All four seats have been built by Welcome Bay builder Jim Gilmore.

'I've been a builder all my life and this is something I've always wanted to do,” says Jim.

'I predominantly have done renovation work in my field, and never really doing these joinery-based jobs, but I really enjoyed it.”

He says it's great to give back to a school that holds close to his heart.

'Both my daughters went to Welcome Bay School, so it's nice to give something back.”

Suez says the friendship chair project was coined last year when Lions Clubs International had been celebrating 100 years of Lionism.

'To celebrate clubs were challenged to do a meaningful project and this was ours,” she says.

'It means so much to us to be leaving this legacy not only for students who are at these schools right now, but for generations to come after them long after all of us are gone.

'If we can do our part to help even one student a week, that will be awesome.”