HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

It all started back in 1982 as an idea of A.C. “Bud” Pasmore and Doug Rae, members of the Vancouver Lions Club.  Bud and Doug got this crazy idea to do this great big food drive.  They presented the idea to their Lions Club and the club agreed that it was worth pursuing.  They also solicited and received the help of both the Hazel Dell and Orchards/Evergreen Lions Clubs.

The first couple of years (1982, 1983, 1984) were tough, but they got it done.  During those first years the drive did not happen on just one day, it happened over the course of several days.  This was back at a time when they did not have access to semi-trucks, forklifts or pallets, or to the large base of volunteers as they do today. 

All of the food came in in various ways ranging from bags, to boxes to carloads to pickup truck loads.   It was a monumental task, but they got the job done.  After the first couple of years, the Ridgefield and Battle Ground Lions began collection efforts in those two communities, becoming more county wide in nature.

As the food drive became more and more successful, it was realized that it had grown larger than what the members of these few Lions Clubs could accomplish.  Bud and Doug approached the Vancouver Rotary in the early planning stages of 1985.  A meeting was held,  attended by some members of the Vancouver Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, and they all bought into the idea of what eventually became known as InterService Walk and Knock.

In the fall of 1985, The Columbian Newspaper got involved by committing to take care of arranging for paid sponsors, the paper bag inserts that go into the newspaper, and the marketing, and a reporter was assigned to the organization to ensure that the word got out. 

That first year as an Inter-Service endeavor, a goal of $100,000 worth of food was set and reached.  That equated to 42 tons of food, a darn good achievement by anyone’s standards.  Over the course of the last 24-years the annual one-day food drive has grown to an average collection of 132 tons.  The record of 155 tons was achieved in 2002.  To date, Walk and Knock has collected 5,695,018 lbs of food valued at just over $7.4 million.  Walk and Knock provides a large portion of all of the food that goes through Clark County’s food banks each year.  

In 2007 and 2008 there were roughly 3,600 volunteers that came out to help each of those years.  This is a decrease of 21% over 2006.  Yet those volunteers collected 20% more food in 2008 than in 2006.  Some of these volunteers go door to door to collect the food and some of them pack the food into boxes as it comes in “from the field”.  

The Port of Vancouver donates a warehouse to store the food in, Puget Sound Truck Line and Anderson Dairy donate semi-trucks that are staged at various locations throughout the county, and the Longshoremen donate their time and equipment to unload the trucks as they come into the warehouse with their loads.

By the middle of the following week more volunteers come to the warehouse and truck that food out to the individual food banks.  Within 5 days from the point that the food was collected from the doorsteps of our neighbors it is in the food banks helping those that need it.

It’s tough to imagine that something this large can all come together in a single day, but it really does.  It happens year after year and those of us who are responsible for organizing the event take great pride in our efforts.  We accept the challenge with a reverent knowledge of the impact that the effort will have on our very own neighbors.  Hunger is a terrible thing but we are trying to do our part. 

From those humble beginnings the Walk and Knock Food Drive has grown to include over 20 service clubs and organizations including the Lions, Rotary, Kiwans, Sertoma, Optimist and Clark County Amateur Radio Clubs of Clark County, and the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts of America.

In 1991 the organization officially incorporated as InterService Walk and Knock of Clark County.  Looking back it is hard to believe that the event has grown to be so big and so successful.  It started as just an idea by two guys who wanted to make a difference.  They were on to something really big.