West Linn High School's Interact Club jumped from about five members to 50 this fall. Club president Connie Fashu-Kanu said the surge means more hands for the group's local and international service projects.

The growth followed a wave of graduations that had thinned the club's ranks. New students packed the Oct. 2 meeting, as first reported by the West Linn High School student newspaper.

"We had maybe five members, but now we have 50 members. So it's great to have so many people available to come and help," Fashu-Kanu told the student paper.

Interact Club is an international organization with chapters on school campuses across the country. The West Linn chapter splits its work between a local project and an international one each year.

Locally, members volunteer the first Sunday of every month with Clay Street Table, a Portland nonprofit that grew out of a meals program at St. Stephen's Episcopal Parish in 2010. Students prepare warm meals and sack lunches, then distribute the food at a second location. The nonprofit says it provides more than 250,000 meals of prepared food and pantry groceries each year.

Paul Davis, Clay Street Table's executive director, said the partnership started a few years ago when the club chose hunger as a focus area. Members cook alongside students from Central Catholic and Lincoln High School.

Fashu-Kanu said she also wants to set up dog food stations at meal distributions, noting that many unhoused Portlanders care for stray dogs and struggle to feed them.

On the international side, the club raises money by selling kettle corn at football games and plans to expand sales to soccer games. This year's fundraising target is Project It Takes A Village, a nonprofit based in Harare, Zimbabwe, that supports vulnerable youth and families. Fashu-Kanu said she wants to use the funds to send feminine hygiene products.

Fashu-Kanu, a senior, first encountered the club during her sophomore year when she tagged along on a Sunday volunteer shift to take photos for the yearbook. She joined the next month and never stopped.

The club meets every other Friday in room E203 at West Linn High School. Updates are posted on Instagram at @wlhs_interactclub.

Upcoming dates: The club's next Clay Street Table volunteer session falls on Sunday, Nov. 1. The next club meeting is Friday, Nov. 6, in room E203.