Volume VI, No. 3 | February ‍2025 ‍ ‍

‍THE WALK & KNOCKER

‍A quarterly newsletter for the Walk & Knock Family

Walk & Knock is Forty! 

That’s right. The Big Four-O.

The nation’s largest, local, one-day food drive turns 40 this year. Over the years -– through good times, recessions, amazing growth and a deadly pandemic – W&K has persevered.

Over 39 years, we’ve collected more than 9.51 million pounds of food valued at $17.3 million providing 11.4 million meals for the needy here in Clark County.  We should all be very proud.

Last year, rebounding from COVID, we collected 271,095 pounds of non-perishable food and $20,000.  This year’s drive is Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, always the first Saturday in December. Mark your calendars!

Don't forget, everything you want to know about Walk and Knock is on our website - walkandknock.org 

Fun Facts 

•       In 1985, Clark County was home to 205,606 people. Today, we’ve grown to 525,563 – an increase of 155%.

• Our first drive netted 84,000 pounds. By 1997, we reached 300,000 pounds for the first time. 

• Our best year was 2010 with 335,340 pounds, followed by 2009 at 323,660 pounds and 2002 with 310,000 pounds. Notice they were all recession years.

•       Every 1.2 pounds of food collected equals one meal, according to the Food Bank. So last year we collected enough to provide 325,314 meals. Add in the $20,000 collected and we’re up to 405,314 meals!

Bags, Bags, Bags

Last year for the first time we mailed 153,000 bags to residences throughout the county. Budget kept us from mailing to every home, but this year thanks to Justin’s good sponsorship work we hope to mail bags to every home in the county – close to 200,000.  

We found that mailing our brown and red bags really increased donations – up from 150,753 in 2022 to last year’s 271,095.

Volunteers 

As always, we’re looking for more help to collect bags. Walk & Knock is not only about pounds of food collected but also about people. We’re the only local organization that engages thousands of people – including many impressionable youngsters – for one day of doing good. That pays dividends for years to come.

But sadly, our volunteer numbers are declining, from 4,000 a few years back to 3,000 before COVID and 2,000 last year.  With the county’s explosive growth, that means fewer people are covering more porches. Less knocking and more walking. Increasing volunteers will increase collections.

Get your friends, neighbors, work colleagues engaged. Ask your schools, churches, sports clubs to pitch in.  It’s just a morning’s worth of work to do so much good.

Sign up at: walkandknock.org/volunteer/sign-up-to-volunteer

Next up 

All Sector Coordinators and Area Captains are encouraged to attend a special Monday, Oct. 14, Board meeting for orientation and direction. Most of our logistics, sites and people are in place, but there are always new moving parts.

Title

‍Replace text that goes here, but if you copy and paste from another document, make sure to select all the text and then click on the button up in the Editor that looks like an I with an x next to it. This clears out unwanted formatting.

Your 2024 Board of Directors

President – Justin Wood

First Vice President – Janet Elliott

Second Vice President – Becky Writt

Third Vice President – Barbara Yasson

Treasurer – Steve Staudinger

Secretary – Tammy Mackey

Past President – Tom Knappenberger

Trustee – Joe Pauletto

Trustee – Jeff Fish

Trustee – Bill Lundin

Trustee -- Kavita Ros

Trustee – Reese Carpenter 

Also featuring:

Kay Hust, Barrel Coordinator

Don't forget

Those of you Fred Meyer shoppers know their rewards program is money back in your pocket.  It can be money in W&K’s pocket, too.  Their Community Rewards Program allows you to designate your favorite non-profit – W&K we hope – to receive similar rebates without affecting your own rewards.  Its Fred’s way of giving to the community.  Please sign up and designate Walk & Knock as your recipient.  It’s free money just waiting for you to activate. 

Visit  https://www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/community-rewards

Donate to Walk & Knock

All money collected goes directly to the Clark County Food Bank to help those in need.

Mail checks to:
PO Box 353, Vancouver WA 98666, payable to Interservice Walk & Knock

Donate online:
Pay with credit card via Paypal, even if you don't have a Paypal account

President's Message

I am happy to return in my 2nd run as your President of Walk and Knock.  I have been involved with Walk and Knock in one form or another for 32 of our 40 years.  This being our 40th year I am excited at our prospects for this year.  While we have the bags and the sponsors lined up for a successful drive, the important piece we need help with is drive day volunteers.  Please spread the word and help us help the community.  

As always please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have any questions or suggestions.  walkandknockjustin@gmail.com 

Justin Wood, President 

walkandknock.org

877-99-KNOCK (877-995-6625)
PO Box 353, Vancouver WA 98666

Unsubscribe ‍