While pancake breakfasts once made great fundraisers for an endangered mobile-home park, they’ve now become a way of thanking the community for saving the neighborhood.

“They overcame some really high odds,” said property manager Donna Cleveland, at a thank-you breakfast and open house April 24.

It’s been about two years since the King County Housing Authority (KCHA) purchased Wonderland Estates, and the senior community is thriving on new hope and eager to fill lots.

When the former owner announced the park was for sale about three years ago, a core group of the aging neighborhood fought.

However, not everyone had the energy to stay. About 20 people moved their homes. About four more residents died under the stress, said Art Breeden, neighborhood association president.

The park is now at about 60 percent capacity, Cleveland said.

In a partnership with the Port of Seattle, KCHA acquired nine homes from other parks that had been condemned.

The homes needed work, said Tim Walter, director of asset management at KCHA.

On one unfinished home, graffiti bleeds through patches of yellow paint.

So far two homes have been purchased. Four more, which have been renovated, are for sale.

“They’re absolutely beautiful,” Breeden said.

The park is nestled along the Maple Valley Highway below a greenbelt, where it’s not uncommon to see wild animals.

A cool clean breeze sways the tall evergreen trees, drowning out the noise of the highway.

“I just can’t get over how peaceful it is,” Breeden said.

The park’s infrastructure hasn’t been updated since it was built in the 1960s.

Potholes have grown into what Breeden calls his lakes. When an earthquake cracked the community pool, it was filled in.

The housing authority is putting about $4.5 million in the park’s infrastructure with help of a $3.5 million grant from the Washington state Housing Trust Fund, Walter said.

Wonderland is the authority’s fourth park purchase since the 1980s.

“Mobile homes provide the most affordable form of home ownership,” he said.

He hopes construction will start this summer and finish by early 2011.

In the meantime new managers are caring for the community in a way no owner has before.

“These managers are the salt of the earth,” Breeden said. “We should put them in for sainthood.”

The community of about 100 does its share in taking care of itself. It’s tight-knit.

“We’re not only a community, we’re a family,” he said.

During a community breakfast, women with white curly hair filled orange juice pitchers in the clubhouse kitchen while others flipped pancakes on two griddles.

If Breeden doesn’t see a neighbor for a few days, he checks on them, and in many cases they need medical attention. He’s mowed lawns, while others have cleaned gutters and driven people to the hospital.

Since KCHA purchased the property, residents started taking care of their homes again. New Life Church, a neighboring church, is planning a service project day.

“The park will never be sold out from under us,” Breeden said. “You know you can live here the rest of your life.”