Thousands of Clark County residents donning rain jackets and boots hit the streets Saturday morning to collect donations for the county’s largest food drive.
About 3,700 people answered calls for help from Clark County Interservice Walk & Knock organizers and dedicated their Saturday to helping the county’s hungry. A few days ago, the event was still down about 1,000 volunteers. By Saturday morning, though, organizers had enough volunteers to cover all of their pick-up areas throughout the county, said Justin Wood, Walk & Knock president.
“So far, so good,” Wood said Saturday afternoon. “I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll do better than last year.”
In 2014, the annual event collected 135 tons of food and about $20,000, Wood said. Food totals have been declining the last few years, but Wood is hoping to reverse that trend this year.
The annual food drive takes place on the first Saturday in December. Since its creation in 1985, Walk & Knock has collected more than 7.5 million tons of food.
Fifteen-year-old Clayton Boring spent his Saturday morning sifting through soggy paper bags at Orchards Elementary School. The school was one of 10 neighborhood hubs where donated food was collected and loaded into trucks.
When minivans and SUVs pulled up to the school full of bags collected from the neighborhoods, Boring and a handful of volunteers unloaded the vehicles. Under pop-up tents, Boring, a freshman at Vancouver’s 49th Street Academy, and the others checked donation bags for glass bottles, perishables and non-food items, such as toilet paper and diapers. Those items were boxed separately.
Then, they grabbed the bags and hustled to the awaiting truck, where all of the food was stacked in bins and later hauled to the Clark County Food Bank. The food bank will distribute the donations to local food pantries.
“I’ve always loved helping people,” Boring said. “And volunteering is one of my favorite things to do. It’s giving back to the community.”
For several years, Boring volunteered with the event as a Boy Scout. This was the first year of volunteering for Cassy Norris of Vancouver.
Norris works with local youth and decided to take part in the event this year to support the youth volunteers.
“It’s the time of year to give back, so we’re out here giving back,” she said.
Norris chose to volunteer at Orchards Elementary because she grew up in the area.
“I think it’s cool to see what our neighborhoods are doing for the community,” Norris said.
Layne Baird of Vancouver drove nearby neighborhood streets with a car full of Cub Scouts from Pack 306. She sent the boys to retrieve bags from doorsteps and pile them in the back of her van. After unloading at Orchards, Baird’s troop agreed to take on another route.
“They’re a little cold and wet, so we need to reward them with hot chocolate,” she said of the boys.
In addition to picking up bags, Baird and the boys knocked on front doors without donation bags set out and asked residents if they could help. They encountered plenty of people who just couldn’t spare any money or canned food, she said.
This event, Baird said, will help those very people — a sentiment Boring agrees with.
“I think this is a really helpful event because it all goes to families in need,” Boring said. “It’s a great way to help the community.”
