North Clark County & Woodland
La Center: Sean McHugh can draw a crowd. The 9-year-old’s entire third-grade class and dozens of other supporters gathered outside the Jantzen Beach Toys “R” Us store April 29 to watch him spend a $1,000 gift card. Sean has lymphoblastic leukemia and was granted his shopping spree wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oregon — which also serves Clark County residents. What did one grand get him? Sean went straight to the electronics section and picked up a PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, lots of video games and a few other goodies. Sean’s shopping spree marked “World Wish Day,” where all Make-A-Wish chapters grant a wish to children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Ridgefield & Fairgrounds
Ridgefield: Volunteers planted 50 or so trees in Gee Creek trail on the south side of Abrams Park. The trees were purchased by the city of Ridgefield through a grant from the Parks Foundation. Forty ornamental trees that were donated by D&D Nursery were planted throughout the city. Boy Scout Troop 310 helped plant trees and upgrade trails between Pioneer Street, Abrams Park and Mayor’s Meadow.
Battle Ground, Meadow Glade & Hockinson
Battle Ground: The annual Battle Ground School District Student Art Show opened May 7 at Captain Strong Primary School, 1002 N.W. Sixth Ave. Visitors may view artwork at any time during regular school hours. In all, 926 pieces of art by students of all grade levels and all schools in the district will be displayed at the primary school through May 28. The Battle Ground Art Show started in 1959, eight years after Battle Ground was incorporated as a city.
Battle Ground: After Mike and Bonnie Irwin noticed a lapse in their contracting business, they decided to do something: pray. They started talking with friends and other locals in construction and decided to host a “Pray Day on May Day.” The event was held on May 1 at the Starting Grounds Church in Battle Ground. About 50 people ended up coming to pray, visit and munch on cinnamon rolls. “It went better than I would have ever dreamed or expected,” Bonnie said. She doesn’t have any specific plans for another meeting, but numerous e-mails from interested folks make her think the group will get together again.
Hazel Dell, Felida & Salmon Creek
Northeast Hazel Dell: Fifteen Clark College students participating in Service Learning in the Community installed weed barriers, spread bark chips and pulled weeds at the Hazel Dell Community Garden on April 22. The garden serves as a learning site for the students at Hazel Dell Elementary.
Salmon Creek: Joe Frimpong is the new director of coaching for the Salmon Creek Soccer Club. Frimpong played for Southern Oregon University and is the head coach of varsity boys soccer at La Salle College Prep High School in Milwaukie, Ore.
Orchards, Sifton & Brush Prairie
Proebstel: Brad Thompson is a new member of the American Angus Association. The association, which has around 31,000 members, records ancestral information and keeps production records on animals to help members breed cattle to be used for U.S. consumption.
West Vancouver & Downtown
Esther Short: Korry Holtzlander’s ongoing experiment in community largesse seems to be succeeding. The driving force behind The Regifting Store, a startup nonprofit thrift store in Vancouver Heights that opened last summer and aims only to break even and help the neediest, opened a second store in downtown Vancouver on May 7. Folks were able to check it out during their stroll about the city’s downtown First Friday Art Walk. The new store is located at the corner of Seventh and Main, in the Centurion building.
Esther Short: The Vancouver Watersheds Council celebrated the opening of a new office space with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 22. The new space is provided free of charge by Wallis Engineering.
Shumway: Students, teachers and employees of the southeast Vancouver Kohl’s rolled up their sleeves on April 11 to weed, remove old bushes and plant bulbs in Vancouver School of Arts and Academics’ Peace Garden. The group worked to prepare the garden for a second phase of planting, which will add native plants to the garden. Kohl’s also awarded the Vancouver School District Foundation a $1,500 grant to purchase additional plants for the Peace Garden.
Central Vancouver, Minnehaha & The Heights
Central Park: Several associates from the Hazel Dell Kohl’s volunteered with Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation at the Urban Gardening Earth Day celebration held at Marshall Community Center on April 17. Kohl’s volunteers spent most of the day preparing lunch for everyone in attendance. Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation will also receive a $1,500 grant from Kohl’s, which will be used to help fund afterschool programs for children.
Van Mall: Customers of the J.C. Penney at the Westfield Vancouver mall donated $2,356 to the Clark County Family YMCA. Donations came a few cents at a time when customers opted to “round-up” their sales to the nearest dollar. The YMCA serves 3,000 children annually through after-school enrichment programs and activities such as Lego, drama, Spanish, arts and crafts, Math Club, and many others. Money raised will go to scholarships for qualifying families.
East Vancouver, Cascade Park, Fisher’s Landing & Evergreen
Evergreen: Lucinda Josephson, a teacher at Legacy High School, received an Outstanding High School Business Educator Award, presented by Oregon State University’s College of Business and Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers. Josephson was nominated for her efforts to provide students with skills required in the workplace. She was recognized and received a $500 prize at an awards dinner on May 6 in Portland.
Cascade Park: A delegation from Joyo, Japan, visited Clark County for the fifth celebration of the Sakura Festival. The visit also marked the 15th anniversary of the sister-city relationship with Joyo and the 20th anniversary of 100 cherry trees donated to Vancouver and planted at Clark College. Because the culture in Japan has changed over the years and young people are not always willing to care for their aged parents, the visitors wanted to tour a retirement center in Vancouver. Nine of the travelers lunched at Cascade Inn and toured the facilities.
Image: Kristen Kraklow, a junior at Wisconsin Lutheran College, played Miss Ryan in the play “The American Clock.” This powerful production of the Great Depression was written by Arthur Miller. Kraklow, 21, grew up in Vancouver.
East Clark County: Camas & Washougal
Washougal: The sun was shining on April 24, but it was no typical morning at the beach for some 52 folks at Captain William Clark Park. They came to volunteer with the Port of Camas-Washougal to clean up Cottonwood Beach in conjunction with Earth Day. Jack Hardy, communications manager for the Port of Camas-Washougal, estimates that volunteers collected a few hundred pounds of trash during the two-hour event.
Camas: Christina Arroyo, Union High School, won first place in the senior voice competition of the National Music Teachers National Association competition on March 21 in Albuquerque, N.M. She also placed second in Soprano and third in Women’s Small Vocal Ensemble at the Washington State Solo Contest on April 23 and 24. Her ensemble was a duet with Natalie Parks, also a Union student.
