On Thursday May 14th, Clackamas County & Community Services organized a Food Box distribution event at the Sandy Cinema parking lot. Over 160 Food Boxes were distributed to local community members. This event is part of the Community Care initiative to address the extra needs in the community during the COVID crisis. Many thanks to the volunteers from Sandy Helping Hands, Councilor Laurie Smallwood, and
Police Lieutenant Sean Lundry for standing out in the rain to help. A special thanks to Elie Kassab for the use of the parking Lot. The next food box Distribution event is scheduled for Thursday, June 25th at 1:30pm.
Community Services staff have continued to rotate teleworking, delivering meals on wheels, checking in on the vulnerable populations, and working onsite. Additionally, we have taken this opportunity to make some adjustment and improvements at the community center. During the time we have been closed, staff has also been purging and archiving documents, making improvements to work spaces and storage areas. Safety protocols are being putting into place to prepare for reopening.
Senior Services
For the month of May, Community Serviced partnered with Ant Farm to provide an extra hot meal for clients. Ant Farm provide a main dish, side, and dessert for all the Thursdays in May. Community Services, Library, and Transit staff loaded up the meals at Ant Farm and delivered 76 meals throughout the area. A special thank you to Nunpa, Valerie, and all the staff at Ant Farm who helped to make this a huge success. The recipients were very thankful for this fresh cooked meal. In addition, over 60 food boxes were delivered to local families and seniors during the month of May.
Virtual fitness classes began this month with the seniors. Carol was able to get the seniors connected on their laptops, ipads, or phones. She has also begun a weekly coffee chat with the seniors to check in and allow them the opportunity to meet up with their friends. Next month we will continue to expand these programs and try our Virtual Bingo!
Recreation
Some recreation programs are scheduled to restart in a limited fashion when we enter Phase II. Some providers have decided to wait until fall to reassess, while others are able to comply with guidelines and are ready to go ahead. Public Health guidelines will be followed, with social distancing and other policies and procedures in place. This will include limiting class sizes, staggering start times, sanitation stations and more.
Classes will be outdoors for the time being.
We are hoping that Camp Namanu will still be able to provide their day camps for Sandy, and possibly even expand to more weeks.
In addition to in person camps and classes, new virtual options will also be available soon. Virtual classes scheduled to start soon include: Chess & Play, Esports & Play, Lego and Play, STEM & Play Multi-Sport, Safesitter Babysitting, Pee Wee Soccer.
Special Events
Noah’s Quest has happened on the last Saturday of June for the past 14 years. This year it will be virtual.
Noah’s Quest was created by Carol Cohen and Cary Mallon after the death of their son, Noah, in 2005. The event supports Brief Encounters, a nonprofit, nonsectarian group for parents whose babies have died before, during, or after birth.
| Saturday, June 27th Opening Ceremony 10:00 am via Zoom Virtual Event – Zoom Link https://zoom.us/j/96301326828 Meeting ID: 963 0132 6828 |
Parks & Trails
All City park playgrounds, bathrooms, and porta-potties remain closed. Passive use of other park areas is allowed. All users of outdoor recreation areas must observe state-issued physical distancing guidelines to keep these areas safe for
everyone. The Dog Parks was reopened on May 15th. The Ant Farm is working with the city to repair the Community Garden beds. It is likely that the most economical option will be to rebuild the beds in the fall, rather than just replace the 4×4’s.
The Parks and Trails Advisory Board has been meeting monthly via Zoom. New officers were elected at the most recent meeting. Don Robertson will take over as Chairperson, Makoto Lane as Vice-Chair and Michael Weinberg as Secretary. The board has one vacant seat at the moment. Many thanks to Kathleen Walker, outgoing chair, for her tireless efforts and enthusiasm for Parks and Trails in Sandy. The Sandy parks and trails system has benefited tremendously from her advocacy and expertise.
Development of the updated Parks & Trails Master Plan continues despite the challenges of today’s reality. A virtual Technical Advisory Committee meeting was held on May 7th and one of the topics of discussion was how to solicit the second round of public input since the Longest Day Parkway has been canceled. JLA has some great ideas online public input processes. There are some viable options for presenting findings to date and soliciting input from the community. This will be reviewed a our next TAC meeting is scheduled for June 16th.