Vancouver Lions Club—Walk And Knock

he Vancouver Lions Club is a founding member of the annual Interservice Walk And Knock Of Clark County food drive.

The Interservice Walk and Knock is a Washington non–profit corporation, approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, that serves Clark County, Washington by soliciting charitable donations of food, supplies and money, which in turn are given to the Clark County food banks to provide food to needy individuals within our community.

Interservice Walk And Knock is governed by a board of Trustees elected by its members. The members of Walk And 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 of America. Walk And Knock members fund the food drive by donating an annual fee of that pays for items such as insurance, postage and stationery, and other items as required by law. Most of the needed supplies and services consumed by Walk And Knock to conduct the food drive are donated, and advertising is paid for by corporate and private sponsors. No public funds are used for any thing other than for the purchase of food. Interservice Walk And Knock of Clark County is 100% privately funded.

The Walk And Knock Food Drive is conducted on the first Saturday of December, starting at 9:00 a.m. Volunteers go door–to–door to collect food donated by local residents and deliver the food to one of ten drop–off locations or staging areas located throughout Clark County. The food is then boxed by volunteers and delivered to the Clark County Food bank where it is distributed to 15 local food banks, which then distribute the collected food to people in need.

Between 3,500 and 4,500 volunteers help with the food drive each year. Volunteers come from local church groups, high school clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire, and several other organizations, as well as hundreds of other private individuals who simply answer the call for help. Members from local service organizations and other community leaders head up the various staging sites.

In the first year as an inter–service organization 42 ton of food, valued at $100,000 was collected.

To date, Interservice Walk And Knock of Clark County has collected 5,695,018 pounds of food valued at just over $7.4 million.

THE NEXT WALK AND KNOCK FOOD DRIVE IS DECEMBER 7, 2024 (THE FIRST SATURDAY IN DECEMBER).

The Vancouver Lions Club collects food in the following neighborhoods for the Walk And Knock Food Drive:

Columbia Way
DuBois Park
Edgewood Park
Ellsworth Springs
Evergreen Highlands
Father Blanchet Park
Forest Ridge
Harney Heights
Marion
Northcrest
North Garrison Heights
North Wood
Old Evergreen Highway
Riverview
Southcliff
Vancouver Heights

To help the Vancouver Lions Club with the Walk And Knock food drive in one of the above neighborhoods, or for more information, please contact our Club's Walk And Knock representative. You can register to help in other neighborhoods and get additional information on the Walk And Knock website.

How It Began

Big things start with simple ideas.

What is now known as Interservice Walk And Knock of Clark County was the brainchild to two Vancouver Lions, A. C. “Bud” Passmore, PID, and Doug Rae, PZC. The simple idea was to expand the Club's food collection project from a handful of food barrels at local supermarkets to a bigger, door–to–door food drive during the winter holiday season.

The project soon outgrew the capacity of one Lions club to handle, and in 1982 the Vancouver Lions joined with the Hazel Dell Lions Club and the Orchards/Evergreen Lions Club to expand the food drive farther into the local community. It was tough going the first couple of years but the Clubs got the job done.

The food drive officially became known as Interservice Walk and Knock in 1985 as other organizations in addition to local Lions Clubs became involved. The organization was officially incorporated as Interservice Walk and Knock of Clark County in 1991.

Walk And Knock is now the largest food drive in Clark County, Washington. All Lions Clubs in Clark County participate in the food drive, and over 20 other service clubs and organizations have joined, including: Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimist, Amateur Radio Clubs of Clark County, and the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts of America.