The Camas-Washougal Community Chest (CWCC) nonprofit organization is prepared to give $141,000 to Camas-Washougal charitable groups in early March 2025, a $7,000 increase over its 2024 distribution total but far short of the combined $306,736 requested from a record 43 grant applications.
The gap has not gone unnoticed by the grant-funding group’s board of directors.
“It used to be reasonably easy because we were only (short) $5,000 to $10,000. Now, it’s getting to be a challenge,” said CWCC board member Richard Reiter. “We had one applicant requesting $75,000 just for their program, and there’s just no way we can do that. We look at cutting everybody back on a proportional basis. Everyone gets cut by 25 percent until we get within that estimated budget of $141,000.”
To meet the unprecedented demand for financial support in 2026, CWCC leaders are looking at new ways of engaging local residents and businesses in an effort to encourage donations. They determined that dinner-auction events have been an effective way for nonprofits to raise money for their programs and services in recent years, so they decided to hold one themselves.
The CWCC will hold its first dinner-auction fundraising event, “An Evening of Magic and Music,” from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, at the Lacamas Lake Lodge, 227 N.E. Lake Road, Camas. The event will feature a buffet dinner with salmon and New York strip steak, live and silent auctions, music and a magic show performed by Vancouver magician Tony Oberio.
“The Community Chest has always relied on personal networking, and we don’t do any advertising, so this will be the first time we’re taking this step to (hold an) auction,” said CWCC President Dave Pinkernell. “We’re setting the whole thing up with volunteers, so it’s a little bit of a challenge for us. We’re learning, (but) it’ll be fine. (Board members) Susan Bennett and Doug Quinn proposed we try it, so we’re going to give it a try, and we hope the community turns out and supports us.”