February started off some mild winter weather and ended with almost a week of snow and weather related closures. Although the City only closed for 1 day, the center had to cancel activities, outings, events, rentals, and meals on wheels for 5 days due to OTSD’s closure. The plus side is we created a policy and procedure guide for weather related closures. We’ve now already used it twice in March as well!

Caroleana stayed busy with 9 new meals on wheels sign ups and 6 energy assistance applications. She also did multiple home visits. She had a few new clients participate in our monthly Bingo. She went on an outing with the seniors to a local thrift store and spent time with our wonderful seniors and brainstormed some fun ideas for future classes/events at the center. Another highlight for her was she attended her first SOAR meeting online and took the Strengthsfinders assessment, where she learned about her key strengths and found the whole thing insightful and fun. As Caroleana put it “It is great to learn my coworkers strengths and what is important to them.” One struggle Caroleana’s facing is that she’s wanting to offer a health fair at the center in May (which is Older American’s month), however she hasn’t had luck finding a mobile clinic for this.

Marc had most of the senior trips full (unfortunately some had to be canceled due to weather. Due to the closures, he stepped in and delivered Meals on Wheels to those in need that didn’t have enough food to last through the storm. 787 meals were delivered in February for Meals on Wheels (this number is lower due to us not being able to deliver on 2 of the days).

Carol has been busy planning upcoming community events. She confirmed 3 movies for the summer movies in the park: Puss in Boots, Spiderman no way home, and Lightyear. She is also working on sponsorships for Noah’s Quest, Movies and Music in the park, and a new event called: Walk or Run with Pride. Carol is also finalizing our summer recreation
guide (with help from the rest of the team), adding more sport camps with Skyhawks, and a new Mt. bike clinic for kids utilizing our Sandy parks!

Amy focused on the Sandy Community Garden Bed Sign-ups and advertisements for it. She completed her Strengthsfinder Analysis and participated in our Department’s team bonding. She also continued growing and learning with the Mt Storm Instructional League + the Mt Storm 5th/6th grade division. Amy has also spent time program planning with the Library (examples include: Makerspace, Children’s Day, and a New Teen Gardening Program). An application for Bee City is also in the works.  

Chelsea stayed busy creating flyers for the Community Campus Open house and focus groups, as well as attending various park project meetings, open houses, and focus groups. She also participated in the Strengthsfinders and the subsequent team building meeting. Regular duties were also completed like the monthly report, Agenda, meeting minutes, ordering supplies, and creating/distributing the March and April Senior newsletters.

John spent time this month helping out with all aspects of the recreation and senior side- he assisted Amy with getting the community garden beds up and running, helped Caroleana with the respite program, and helped manage the conclusion of Mountain storm. He led a planning meeting for the March/April senior newsletter. He’s also been involved with the Community Campus Park project with attending meetings, the open house, and senior focus group. John also updated our senior classes to go in the summer recreation guide- some fun offerings will include a a cooking class celebrating fresh summer ingredients from local farmers markets.

See below for some photos from Community Campus Park Project focus groups:

Parks Monthly report:   

Upcoming Important items/Dates:

• New Kids Tumbling class starts March 9th
• Mt. Storm Jamboree March 11
• Silent Disco for teens March 17th
• Senior Birthday Party March 20th
• April Teen flashlight Egg Hunt & Senior Egg Hunt
• Respite starting on Thursdays in April
• Solve It Clean Up Sandy April 22
• Energy Assistance can continue through the year- Cooling assistance specifically can start in June