Annual Walk & Knock food drive skipping porches

The nation’s largest local one-day food drive, Walk & Knock, is located right here in Clark County, and it’s taking place on Dec. 4.

This year will be a little different, however, due to COVID-19 safety precautions.

Instead of picking up donations from porches, volunteers will accept donations between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. next Saturday at locations throughout Clark County.

People interested in donating can bring nonperishable food and toiletries to any of the following locations:

Chuck’s Produce – 2302 N.E. 117th St.
Hudson’s Bay High School – 1601 E. McLoughlin Blvd.
Living Hope Church – 2711 N.E. Andresen Road.
Parkrose Hardware – 16509 S.E. First St.
Walmart – 14505 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd.
Clark County Food Bank – 6502 N.E. 47th Ave.
ERS Rental Group – 2305 S.E. Eighth St., Camas.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire & Rescue Station 26 – 21609 N.E. 72nd Ave., Battle Ground.
La Center bridge, in downtown La Center.
View Ridge Middle School – 3215 S. Hillhurst Road, Ridgefield.

Additionally, donations will be accepted at Riverview Community Bank branches, Les Schwab Tire Centers and Cost Less Auto Parts locations between Nov. 29 and Dec. 10.

Financial donations will also be accepted online at walkandknock.org, and checks can be sent to P.O. Box 353, Vancouver, WA, 98666.

Since its inception in 1985, the event has gathered 8.6 million pounds of food and some $415,000.

According to Walk & Knock President Tom Knappenberger, difficult financial years typically see a higher donation rate. The most food ever collected was during the Great Recession of 2009-2010, and 2020 saw the largest amount of financial donations ever received at $115,000.

This year should be no different, according to Knappenberger.

“There’s still a great need in our community,” he said. “One in four people in our county is food insecure and more than 117,000 received food from the Clark County Food Bank in 2020.”

Examples of nonperishable food include baby food, bags of rice and beans, canned meats and fish, cereal, crackers, granola bars, oatmeal, pasta, peanut butter and soup.

Food, supplies and financial donations collected during Walk & Knock are given to the Clark County Food Bank, which distributes the donations to those in need in the community.

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