Camas-Washougal Community Chest to host Valentine’s Day fundraiser

Organization hopes to raise money to meet ‘unprecedented demand’ in 2026

By Doug Flanagan
January 16, 2025 11:00 am
Camas, Life, News, Washougal

IMPACT Washougal volunteers package food donations in 2024. IMPACT Washougal is one of several Camas-Washougal Community Chest grant recipients serving local residents in need. (Contributed photo courtesy of Rich Reiter)

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.”

The theme of the event is a “celebration of love for community,” a nod to the people the Community Chest strives to help, according to Reiter.

“People who have lived here for a number of years realize that the communities aren’t perfect in terms of all the residents being able to participate in daily life because they’re short of finances or they are facing an emergency like a medical diagnosis, which kind of throws their finances off,” Reiter said.

“And over the years, the communities have pulled together to try and help these folks. We’ve been around more than 75 years, and many of the other nonprofits are also 50 to 70 years old, so there’s been this concern about not all the residents are able to participate fully in activities in life, and we hope through the grants that we share that we may help some people through a temporary setback so they can again participate in the full range of community activities.”

The CWCC is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the Camas and Washougal communities through grants that support emergency food assistance and support for families in crisis; temporary shelter and safety for at-risk youth; environmental stewardship in the Lacamas Creek watershed; litter cleanup and beautification projects; and a Safe Stay overnight car park program for unhoused individuals.

Its beneficiaries include the Camas-Washougal Rotary Foundation, Camas Lions Foundation, Inter-Faith Treasure House, Akin, Janus Youth Programs, Pink Lemonade Project, and Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership.

Donations for the 2024 Community Chest grants came from Georgia-Pacific (GP) employees and the GP Foundation, the Camas Lions Foundation, the Camas-Washougal Rotary Foundation, public agencies, businesses, individuals and trusts, and income generated through events and investments, according to the organization.

The CWCC collected $12,766 for its 2024 campaign through four fundraisers — a “Bingo With Santa” event at 54-40 Brewing Company in December 2023, which raised $1,338; “Pitching for a Cause,” featuring former Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer at Washougal Times in March 2024, which raised $1,523; Give BIG, Washington state’s largest fundraising campaign put on by the Washington Gives nonprofit organization in May 2024, which raised $8,391; and “Cruise to the Shoug,” a car show at 54-40 Brewing Company in August 2024, which raised $1,500.

“Our mission is to help local charities thrive,” Pinkernell said. “We do the due diligence to ensure donations (have) the biggest impact on our community.”

Event to honor longtime board member

The event will highlight the contributions of longtime CWCC board member Mary Mabry, who died Aug. 2, 2024, at the age of 85. Mabry directed nearly $60,000 from her estate to the Community Chest’s endowment fund, which was established in 2013.

“Since then, we’ve had a few people include us in their estate plan, so we have built up our endowment fund,” Pinkernell said. “It is something we want to actually start to explain to the community. We want to encourage people to include the Community Chest in their estate planning so that we could ensure a future for the Community Chest. We use (the endowment fund) to supplement our annual grants every year.

“In this case, (Mary’s contribution) is going to enable an additional small $2,000 grant annually, in perpetuity. Our typical grant is about $2,000 to a small non-profit, so we’ll likely be able to fund an additional grant request every year because of Mary including the Community Chest in her estate plan. “

Pinkernell said Community Chest leaders will talk about Mabry’s endowment at the Feb. 14 dinner-auction event.

“We’re going to talk about that and try to introduce that idea and encourage our longtime donors to include the Community Chest in their estate plan,” Pinkernell said. “The Community Chest has been around for 78 years now, and we want to go on for another 78 years. One way we can do that is by growing our endowment fund.”

Mabry, a Camas native who worked at the Camas paper mill and Highland Terrace Nursing Home, was “a remarkable community leader and advocate,” according to her obituary. She served on the Camas City Council; founded the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society (WCGHS); participated in the Soroptimist International of Camas-Washougal; sang with various local choirs; and led a local Girl Scouts troop, among other community activities.

“She was very nice and very sweet,” Pinkernell said. “She had a wonderful heart.”

The WCGHS said that Mabry left it “a generous bequest” that will allow it to pay off its new cat shelter.

“Mary’s dream to create a safe haven for animals is what founded WCGHS, and her passion and kindness have been the guiding light for our organization ever since,” the WCGHS said in a statement. “Her love for every animal she encountered was truly inspiring, and her legacy is reflected in the countless lives saved and families made whole. We will miss her deeply but are honored to carry on the mission she dedicated her life to.”

Tickets for the Feb. 14 Community Chest fundraising event cost $75 per person or $600 for a table for eight. To purchase tickets, visit zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/join-us-for-an-evening-of-magic-and-music.

Past fundraising events benefitting the Community Chest include:

2020: Halloween fundraiser at 54-40 Brewing and GIVE More 24*

2021: GIVE More 24 and fundraiser at Caps and Taps

2022: Outlaw Music Festival at 54-40 Brewing, silent auction at 54-40 Brewing, GIVE More 24 and fundraiser at K&M Restaurant

2023: Bingo With Santa at 54-40 Brewing, Outlaw Music Festival at 54-40 Brewing, silent auction at 54-40 Brewing, fundraiser concert at RV Inn Amphitheater and a pickleball scramble fundraiser at Wolfe Courts in Washougal’s Hathaway Park

2024: Pitching for a Cause, featuring former Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer at Washougal Times, Give BIG and Cruise to the Shoug fundraiser at 54-40 Brewing

* The Community Chest was designated as a beneficiary of the 2020 Dinner In White on the Columbia event, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Camas-Washougal Community Chest

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