Prairie ROTC cadets get on a roll with toilet paper drive

Ryan Zika, from right, Kaylan Rude and other members of Prairie High’s Air Force Junior ROTC program deliver thousands of rolls of toilet paper Monday afternoon to Open House Ministries. The cadet corps has been conducting a toilet paper drive for the local homeless shelter. (STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)

“That’s the way we roll,” some people will tell you.

But a group of community-minded Prairie High School students actually have some numbers to back that up: more than 4,000 rolls of toilet paper.

That’s what was delivered to Open House Ministries in Vancouver, thanks to Prairie’s Air Force Junior ROTC program.

The cadet corps took on this particular paper drive as a service project for the homeless shelter.

Prairie junior Michael Madrid said he asked Open House what they needed the most.
Madrid, a second lieutenant who directs the cadet corps’ community service program, was surprised to learn that toilet paper is a high-priority item.

“That’s not something that gets donated a lot, and you can’t use food stamps on paper products” said Dawn Barton, volunteer coordinator at Open House Ministries. “We usually give out a couple of rolls here and there.”

Now the agency at 900 W. 12th St. will be able to spend money for other in-demand supplies. Members of the Prairie cadet corps delivered 3,025 toilet rolls Monday afternoon.

The Prairie cadets recruited several supporters, including the local Georgia-Pacific mill. The Camas tissue producer added 1,104 double rolls to the cause. The donation boosted Monday’s final score to more than 4,100 rolls — enough to fill a small walk-in closet.

Madrid said his family donates to the homeless shelter, so Open House was a familiar partner for a service project.

Madrid has a strong thread of service in his family that goes beyond the Vancouver homeless ministry. Between the ages of 3 and 6, Madrid lived in Africa, where his parents were part of a Catholic missionary project providing food and medical aid in famine-stricken regions of Zambia.

As far as the Junior Air Force ROTC cadets were concerned, they just wanted to do something to help Open House, Madrid said: “We would have done yard work.”

Tom Vogt is at 360-735-4558 or at tom.vogt@columbian.com.