Volunteers will Walk & Knock on Saturday

In Clark County’s largest food drive on Saturday, thousands of pounds of food will be collected in an event that is made possible by the efforts of thousands of volunteers.

Inside today’s Post-Record, readers will find a Walk & Knock grocery bag that can be filled with non-perishable food and left on front doorsteps Saturday by 9 a.m.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., volunteers will go door-to-door to collect the bags, and deliver the food to one of 10 drop-off locations, including the Tidland Corp. parking lot in Camas.

The donations are then taken by truck to the Port of Vancouver, where they are stored and sorted in a warehouse. By the end of the following week, the food is distributed to 15 food banks, including the Inter-Faith Treasure House in Washougal.

According to its website, each month the Treasure House distributes 45,000 pounds of food to local residents in need. Its food bank serves residents east of 164th Avenue to the Skamania County line. Volunteers contribute 1,250 hours of their time at the local facility, which includes a thrift store.

The members of Walk & Knock include local Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary and Optimist clubs, members of the Clark County Amateur Radio Club, and adult leaders of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Walk & Knock was initiated by Lions members Bud Pasmore and Doug Rae in 1982. It has since grown to be Clark County’s largest food drive, collecting a total of more than 6 million pounds of food worth nearly $8 million dollars.

In it’s 27th year in 2011, 4,000 volunteers helped put on the event that raised 140 tons of food.

For more information, or to volunteer for the 2012 effort, visit www.walkandknock.org or call 877-995-6625.