Barry Panush, left, and Bill Hunter, of the Boistfort Lions Club, spoke Tuesday about the club’s history with the Walk-N-Knock program in Lewis County.
More than 25 years after a member brought the program to Lewis County, the Boistfort Valley Lions Club is gearing up for the annual Walk-N-Knock program.
They plan to meet at the Baw Faw Grange in Curtis and set out at 10 a.m. Dec. 5 to visit homes throughout the Boistfort Valley to collect items for area food banks.
Similar efforts are unfolding across the area on the same day.
“We have established routes and route maps for practically every home in the valley,” said club Secretary Bill Hunter.
A Boistfort Lions Club member suggested bringing the event to Lewis County more than 25 years ago after seeing it work successfully in Longview, club member and “Lion Tamer” Barry Panush said.
“That was the nucleus,” he said. “It just sort of branched out from there.”
Now, a number of different groups and organizations sponsor Walk-N-Knocks in communities throughout Lewis County.
Hunter said the club usually collects about 2,000 pounds of food at the Walk-N-Knock, all of which gets donated to a food bank in Pe Ell.
Hunter said they aren’t sure how many houses they’ll visit.
“As many as there are,” he said. “As many as we can get to.”
They estimated about 800 people live in the Boistfort Valley, and many contribute canned food and other goods to the program. Volunteers are seeking non-perishable or canned goods and other household or kitchen items.
“It’s interesting. You go to a house — you think they should be getting food and they’re giving,” Panush said.
About 10 people from the club are involved in the Boistfort branch of the Walk-N-Knock. Children from the Boistfort School District also help, they said.
“As Barry and I pointed out, we are not interested in claiming credit for the Walk-N-Knock program — that is not the issue,” Hunter said in an email. “The real issue is that of getting all sort of people to participate, because the spirit of the program is to help those who need help, whoever they may be. That is what it’s all about.”
The Boistfort Lions Club is looking for more people to help it carry out its mission in the community beyond Walk-N-Knock as well. The club, which has about 20 members, recently had a membership drive. Hunter and Panush stressed that the Lions are not an elite group, but a working club that sponsors many projects in the community.
“Everybody is hurting for membership,” Panush said. “It was a matter of getting younger people that can replace us because we’re getting old and can’t do the work anymore.”
The club spends a good deal of its money on projects related to the Boistfort School District. They help with both maintenance and major work on ball fields and lawns at the school, and run a concession stand for youth sports and work closely with the Boistfort Youth Athletic Association. They also run the Boistfort Lions Club Park.
The club also co-sponsored a visit in February by the Missoula Children’s Theatre and plan to have a hamburger feed to coincide with the visit.
“The Boistfort Valley is an unincorporated area. Whatever you want to happen in that neighborhood has to be done by volunteers,” Hunter said. “Our focus has always been on doing work that is needed in that community.”
