In your neighborhood, Dec. 30

West Vancouver and Downtown

Shumway: For six years now, Vancouver Fire Capt. Duane Schuman has guided the Westside Firehouse Coat and Blanket Drive. But he’s never seen demand like this year — thanks in part to a recent cold snap but mostly due to the economic recession that has hit local families hard. “Some days we take in over 500 coats, the next day they are gone,” he said. “What once was a community service has become an emergency resource for many in our area.” You can contribute by dropping off new or gently used blankets and coats at the fire station, 400 E. 37th St. (the corner of Main.)

Esther Short: Guest of honor John Lithgow helped the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation raise more than $92,000 at its annual Authors and Illustrators dinner and silent auction at the Hilton Vancouver Washington on Nov. 17. At the fundraising dinner, an audience of 912 people heard actor and author Lithgow talk about how he was influenced by books when he was a boy. The money raised will go help support the library district’s many programs.

Hazel Dell, Felida and Salmon Creek

Hazel Dell: Walmart stores in Clark County, including the one in Hazel Dell, hosted the annual Kids and Cops shopping events on Dec. 3, 11 and 17. Walmart donated $8,000 to the city of Vancouver for the Domestic Violence Prosecution Center shopping expeditions. Clark County sheriff’s deputies and Vancouver police officers helped 69 children shop for their families. Each Walmart set up tables with paper, tape and ribbon for staff from the center, Clark County Prosecutor’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office to wrap the presents for the children.

Orchards, Sifton and Brush Prairie

Proebstel: The annual live Nativity play at Son Rise Ranch on Dec. 18 attracted an audience of about 75 people and featured students from Son Rise — and a few barnyard animals — in all the key roles. A llama played the part of a camel; a miniature horse took the part of the donkey; and a lamb, goats, guinea pigs and ducks filled in as the shepherd’s flock. The whole gang became a petting zoo at the play’s end while hot beverages and desserts were being served. Several Camas High School musicians belted out Christmas tunes as the audience joined in the caroling. Son Rise, owned by Pamila Cronkhite, is a youth development equine center that uses horses to teach life skills to youths.

Orchards, Sifton and Brush Prairie

Heritage: Mike Merrill recently contacted us to sing the praises of an accomplished and poised young lady he met at a craft bazaar. Megan Tautfest, an eighth-grader at Frontier Middle School, has been accepted to the People to People Student Ambassador Program to Europe this summer. The 14-day program includes everything from meeting with government officials to living with a host family. Tautfest is raising $6,500 in tuition for the journey. What impressed Merrill, he said, was Tautfest’s “amazing maturity,” friendliness and enterprise in selling blankets to raise funds for her trip. You can reach her at meg-ptp-2010@comcast.net.

Heritage: Mary Ellen Roth, who divides her time between Jerome, Idaho, and Si-Ellen Stables just off Ward Road, has won a place in the Idaho Dairy Hall of Fame. Roth’s daughter, Susie Falter, dropped us a line to let us know about the award and to tell “the history of a beautiful woman who contributed to the Clark County area.” The first Roth family dairy was located where Portland International Airport is now; the second, which became Si-Ellen Stables, began in 1939. The decision to escape urban sprawl and head for Idaho — part time, anyway — came in 1995. Roth’s induction into the Idaho Dairy Hall of Fame in November was her second big award of late; in 2008 she made it into the Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame.

Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson

Battle Ground: “Getting to help people has been awesome,” said Grace. “The best part is helping people who can’t afford food,” said Tori. Lesli Collum’s fourth-grade class at Firm Foundation Christian School wanted to pitch in and help this holiday season, so they started their own in-school food drive. They were trying for 4,500 food items; when the drive ended on Dec. 18, they’d collected 5,461. It all added up to 4,435 pounds of food for the North County Community Food Bank. “I wanted my students to receive the abundant blessings that come from serving others,” Collum said, “and boy have they ever!”

Central Vancouver, Minnehaha and The Heights

Ogden: The students and staff of Vancouver Christian High School set out to give back to Clark County by serving at 13 different organizations on Dec. 9. A variety of duties were accomplished including organizing storage closets, preparing food baskets, stuffing newsletters, painting, washing windows, raking leaves, breaking down the frozen trails at Whipple Creek Park, tutoring students, inventory control, cleaning, making ornaments and visiting with the elderly, and dismantling an outdoor Nativity set at a local church.

Columbia Way: Children from the Y’s Care program at the YWCA of Clark County enjoyed a holiday meal at Beaches thanks to owner Mark Matthias and his staff. In addition to a kid-friendly lunch, the 14 children received a new teddy bear, a giant coloring book, a wrapped puzzle and a personalized stocking full of goodies. Matthias also arranged for an antique firetruck and firemen to make an appearance for the children as well as Santa and a few elves.

Evergreen Highlands: The Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation, a small startup charity based at the Buena Vista Drive home of Emanuel Tanne, M.D., has won $25,000 from Chase Community Giving, the philanthropic arm of the Chase bank business. Charities with operating budgets of $10 million or less were eligible; Facebook hosted a round of voting and 100 organizations were selected to receive $25,000 and advance to a second round. There will be a $1 million winner, five winners of $100,000 each, and another $1 million to divide up between other charities. Dr. Tanne and his wife, Amy, started the IHRB after their daughter suffered many misdiagnoses of her condition; the agency provides many resources and maintains a patient registry at Oregon Health & Science University.

East Clark County: Camas and Washougal

Camas: The inaugural Camas Holiday Home Tour took place the first weekend in December and featured four homes decorated for the holidays with help from professional designers and florists. The Leadbetter House, a Queen Anne-style farmhouse that overlooks Lacamas Lake, was a big draw and current resident Karen Johnson was able to fill visitors in on its history. Cindy and Mike Ontkean’s French country home in Lacamas Shores was decorated in a French traditional motif and featured a themed tree in each room, including a small tree in the kitchen that was covered with glass ornaments in the shape of food. The Carmack Estate, currently owned by Susan and Steve Jacoby, was decorated as a traditional farmhouse and a contemporary home on Prune Hill called Casa la Jolla rounded out the tour. The event raised more than $5,000 for the Downtown Camas Association and Soroptimists International of Camas-Washougal provided 64 docents for the event.

Camas: Students at Grass Valley Elementary School got an introduction to the Special Olympics’ Young Athletes program during an exhibition on Dec. 4. About 270 children participated in three sessions, and volunteers from Hayes Freedom and Camas high schools helped things run smoothly. The program is designed for children with intellectual disabilities, ages 2 through 7, as an introduction to the world of sports prior to Special Olympics eligibility at the age of 8. The students had a chance to play soccer, toss a football and hit a ball with a bat, but the obstacle course seemed to be the most popular. Each participant received a gold medal, a T-shirt and a snack. Additionally, Grass Valley Elementary received a Young Athletes kit and curriculum to be used by teachers.

Washougal: All of the sixth-graders in Washougal will be heading to outdoor school in spring thanks to a $5,000 donation the Adalis Corporation made to the Friends of the Columbia Gorge on Dec. 4. The money will go into an endowment fund called the Clausen Youth Education Program, which was established in 2008 by the Vic Clausen family to educate young people about the natural world outside of the classroom and to provide environmental literacy. The students will visit Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Captain William Clark Regional Park at Cottonwood Beach, among other sites.

East Vancouver, Cascade Park, Fisher’s Landing and Evergreen

Fisher’s Landing East: Les Schwab Tire Centers has applied to build a tire center on the southwest corner of Southeast 192nd Avenue and Southeast 31st Street, near the Riverstone Marketplace shopping complex. The proposal calls for a 9,830-square-foot facility with a showroom, repair shop and a parking lot with 61 spaces for employees and customers at 3200 S.E. 192nd Ave. Les Schwab Tire Centers is a Bend, Ore., company that operates six Clark County centers. The company employs more than 7,000 people at 400 stores throughout the Western U.S.

Mill Plain: Vancouver police and Nautilus Corp. pulled together for the sixth year in a row to brighten the holidays for needy children. Nautilus donated money and the Vancouver police donated time and staff to go shopping at Target, 16200 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., with kids selected from the rolls of local social service agencies. “Nautilus Holiday Helpers” was held on Dec. 19.