During the span of four hours on Sunday, the school’s Interact Club traveled to Portland to prepare and serve a meal to those in need. The event, led by Clay Street Table and HOMEpdx, takes place on the first Sunday of each month, the most recent one being March 2, 2025. 

Rachel Gerber, junior, is one of the club’s co-presidents along with Eloise Guarisco, junior. Gerber has been a part of the club for over a year. Now being the leaders, she and Guarisco are carrying on traditions such as the collaboration with Clay Street Table. The club meets every other Thursday in room E203.

“Interact Club is a small community service club for students to engage with the community, but they can decide what they want to engage in,” Gerber said. “It’s definitely more of a small local scale. We do more like projects— instead of individual opportunities— [and] we work with certain nonprofits outside of school.”

Gerber was inspired to join the club due to a personal connection to the cause, and continues to participate in and lead it for the same reason.

“When I was younger, I lived in Los Angeles. Was I poor? No, but I had a lot of friends who were,” Gerber said. “We lived in a weird area where like, half of our city was being gentrified. There were also a lot of homeless people in that town, and I know there’s a lot of stigma [that] they’re very dangerous and stuff, and usually even if they are, it’s just good to help people.”

Paul Davis is the gathering minister and executive director at Clay Street Table. He helped found the program 14 years ago with the intent of bringing people together through shared meals.

“[Our] mission statement [is] to feed people who are hungry in body and spirit by bringing people together from different ages and walks of life into a community, united by a common purpose,” Davis said. “I kind of believe this is more church than a lot of people experience on Sunday morning. This is a lot deeper than a 15-minute sermon.”

For Sunday’s event, they collaborated with HOMEpdx, another organization dedicated to connecting the community in Portland through volunteer work. Pastor Bruce Arnold is one of the individuals who runs HOMEpdx. They rely on groups such as the school’s Interact club to help serve food and provide resources.

“All the food comes from groups. We wouldn’t have lunch if we didn’t have groups. I mean, I guess we would, but it would be a lot more effort,” Arnold said. “You can just come and volunteer to whatever level you’re comfortable with. I have groups sometimes that will bring socks or hats and gloves or whatever, and hand [them] out with the meal.”

Similarly, Davis and Clay Street Table call upon volunteer groups to help run the events. On March 2, the present groups included student volunteers from West Linn’s Interact club, St Mary’s Academy, Central Catholic High School, the Oregon Episocopal School, as well as the Oregon Chinese Coalition.

“Maybe the first time a student comes because they say, ‘Well, I have a service requirement I’m trying to do,’ or ‘I’m doing it for my club,’” Davis said. “But then people keep coming, and if you keep coming, it’s not because you have to fulfill some requirement; it’s because something touched your heart.”

To be involved with the club, members are expected to attend at least one of the two monthly meetings and participate in at least one volunteer event during the year.

“I know that a lot of times students feel pressured to do certain things, like having a passion project for college– that’s a big reason why a lot of people join. But when you actually go out [and] you do something good, it feels good,” Gerber said. “It’s honestly a stress reliever. It can be good to kind of distract yourself from school.”

To get involved with their upcoming volunteer opportunities, contact Eloise Guarisco, Rachel Gerber, or their adviser, Andy West, for more information.

This story was originally published on wlhsNOW on March 4, 2025.