In your neighborhood

Ridgefield and Fairgrounds

Whipple Creek: On Dec. 7, students from Vancouver Christian High School teamed up with Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation’s AmeriCorps Watershed Team to combat invasive English ivy. Between 15 students, two teachers and five AmeriCorps members, 250 trees were freed of the noxious, choking plant at Whipple Creek Regional Park.

Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson

Battle Ground: Mike Kleiner, teacher at Chief Umtuch Middle School, described a recent civic-minded project by nearly 150 eighth graders there as akin to “ants on a potato chip.” But it wasn’t really that gross: Kleiner was just explaining how the students swarmed all over dozens of boxes of food and household items that came to Battle Ground’s North County Community Food Bank via the countywide Walk & Knock food drive. The Chief Umtuch students, working for about an hour for each of two days, unloaded 12,888 pounds of goods from 10 pallets, carried it all inside the school cafeteria, sorted it, boxed it and loaded it into vans for the trip to the food bank. (Part of the students’ task was checking expiration dates; the oldest item spotted and discarded was a Betty Crocker angel food cake mix with a 1987 expiration date.) A grateful Elaine Hertz, executive director of the food bank, said the 12,888 pounds from the Walk & Knock food drive might last until March. Then, it’ll be crunch time again.

Orchards, Sifton and Brush Prairie

Heritage: Local author Dan Strawn has done it again. The author of the 2007 novel “Lame Bird’s Legacy” and many more stories and essays has signed with an independent publisher for his second novel. It’s a family saga called “Isaac’s Gun — An American Tale” and it will be released next spring in eBook and print formats by Blue Wood Publishing. A retired teacher, Strawn is on the board of directors of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail Foundation and works with the U.S. National Park Service as an interpreter of the Nez Perce experience at park sites and at elementary and high schools.

West Vancouver and Downtown

Esther Short: A reader called early last week to say she spotted eight Waste Connections trucks rumbling down state Highway 500, steered by the smilingest group of drivers she’d ever seen and stuffed with new bicycles. There were 65 of them, each with a brand-new helmet, and they were donated to the state Division of Child and Family Services by the local waste and recycling hauler. DCFS program manager Peggy Hays, who supervised the distribution of bikes to a gathering of local foster children in need, said all 65 were given away in 29 minutes.

Esther Short: Eighteen volunteers from the Vancouver office of CWCapital, a commercial real estate finance and investment management company, pitched in for local charity Share Inc. They gathered and sorted food, clothing and toys and wrapped more than 300 gifts for Share’s holiday party.

Hazel Dell, Felida and Salmon Creek

Northeast Hazel Dell: Firefighters from Fire District 6 stepped off the engine and into the kitchen to serve stacks of pancakes during a Dec. 11 fundraiser. Hazel Dell’s Applebee’s restaurants donated $5 for every $7 ticket sold to the annual community holiday party hosted by the Northeast Hazel Dell Neighborhood Association at Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School. The fundraiser brought in close to $700 for the event, which provides families in need with toys, toiletries and food for the holidays. Other sponsors of the party are local neighborhood associations, businesses, the Vancouver School District and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Central Vancouver, Minnehaha and The Heights

Bagley Downs: The Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, located in the Jim Parsley Center on Plomondon Street, hosted its second annual holiday ball at the Heathman Lodge on Dec. 11. A fantastic $160,000 was raised by over 200 attendees. The free clinic is the largest of its kind in Washington, providing compassionate, quality health care to children and adults who have no other access to medical, dental, vision and specialty care. In 2009, there were nearly 11,000 free clinic patients — a 24 percent rise from the previous year. Co-sponsors included Southwest Washington Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, the Vancouver Clinic, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, Providence Health Systems, James and Randi Holland and many others.

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

Kevanna Park: On the first two Saturdays in December, youth and families from organizations like the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Native American Youth Association and Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation gather at the National Forest Service Headquarters in East Vancouver. From there they take vans over to the Wind River Work Center, north of Carson, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. There they learn about ecosystems and job possibilities — and everybody enjoys the snowy wilderness and cuts down a Christmas tree. Later this spring, they’ll return to close the loop by planting some trees. “After these kids spend time on these adventures, they become a voice of knowledge out in their community,” said Terry Durazo, Gifford Pinchot Civil Rights Program Manager and Urban Youth Lead. “They take that with them to be even more successful, no matter the direction they decide to take in life.”

East Clark County: Camas and Washougal

Washougal: The Two Rivers Heritage Museum at One Durgan Street will be closed for maintenance and remodeling from Thursday through the end of January. “We are going to totally rearrange our large home and pioneer occupations room,” said longtime volunteer Bernice Pluchos. “New historical features will be set up in the other six rooms, as well. One of the larger rooms will contain rotating displays on a bimonthly basis. The museum volunteers will use this opportunity to do a current inventory of items both on display and in storage. The Museum is thankful that members of the community have been so generous with family heirlooms and donations.” Meanwhile, tours of the museum can still be arranged by calling museum director Phil Harris at 360-835-8742. For those who are planning on doing research in the museum’s archives, call for times and available docent help. There is always a need for new volunteers and a training program will start early next year. Call to sign up.

Union High School: Senior student Morgan Nolta has been named a Discus Award winner for the 2010-2011 school year. The Discus Awards is a national program that provides recognition and scholarship opportunities to well-rounded high school students who excel in various areas but may not have won other awards. According to a new page at the Discus website, Nolta is an accomplished photographer, horse rider and teacher of children who want to learn to ride. She is now eligible for 2010-2011 Discus Awards scholarships. Discus awards a $2,000 scholarship every month of the academic year, for a total of $20,000 per year. Take a look at http://www.discusawards.com/winners.