March brought more winter weather which caused more cancelled trips and events for our seniors. Everyone seemed over the snow which made the few days of sunshine that much more enjoyable.
For Carol, March meant finishing up Mountain Storm for the year. Mt. Storm concluded with the Jamboree at the high school. They had a total of 220 kids grades 3rd-6th from all of the different OTSD schools. They gave out ribbons to all the kids and each coach presented a sportsmanship award to an opposing team to one child that exemplified good sportsmanship.
The Parks & Recreation Department hosted their first Silent Disco at the Community Center for teens. We had 3 local sponsors: D31, Embold Credit Union, and Dick Hannah. Dominoes donated pizza and Nya’s Cakes gave us a discount on cookies. The teens had a blast and used the whole community center. There was a photo booth and games in the lounge (pool, corn hole, connect 4, chess, and VR headsets). This event was a huge success and will happen again. Something for adults may be a future offering! Give Carol a shout out for this incredible event as this was her idea and she brought it to fruition.
Amy has continued to learn the ropes. The Community Gardens beds sold out by March 31st – 3 nonprofits (D31 Foundation, Todos Juntos, and DD & MH Provider of Oregon) and 45 individuals are involved. Amy organized and help deliver organic compost from Handmade Gardens PDX with help from volunteers from D31 Foundation. D31 Foundation also generously sponsored the fee for folks who could not afford to participate in the gardens. The first volunteer work day of the season was March 26th.
Amy’s K-2 Mountain Storm Instructional League met twice in March and is continuing through April because of the 3 back to back snow days. Last class day is now April 19th. Good job Amy!
Amy has taken over Bee City. Sandy Bee City installed two bee houses for Mason and Leafcutter Bees in the community gardens and kicked off our “Adopt a Flower Box” program to help get pollinator friendly flowers in the gardens. If you’re interested in joining the Bee City Action Group-please see the flyer below and let Amy know.
Finally, Amy was interviewed by Brit Allen on Solve It In Sandy, the Earth Day Clean Up event which is scheduled for April 22nd.
Caroleana decorated the center for St. Patrick’s day. Caroleana also helped decorate for the Teen Silent Disco, along with Marc and Carol. This was quite the task as they set up lights, lasers, and blacked out all the windows and skylights.
Caroleana’s Respite program was advertised in our newsletter and on social media. We have had interest in the program and it began April 6th. Meanwhile- lots of learning is happening for the respite program- ie: online trainings and videos about dementia and Alzheimer’s through the alzheimer’s association. She also met with Samantha, our volunteer for Respite, to plan for April activities, crafts and exercises for the program.
Caroleana had a few opportunities to learn about new resources for our seniors this month. She participated in a Medicare training which gave her new insight to the large need for proper education to our seniors on the benefits available to them through the medicare plans, etc. She attended a great meeting regarding OPI (Oregon Project Independence) which is a great resource for our seniors in Clackamas County. She also learned about the caregiver registry and their requirements. In an online training course she learned about programs that can help with senior loneliness and social isolation: Circle of Friends and Pearls. She looks forward to being able to offer this information to our seniors who can benefit from it.
Bingo was March 14th. Caroleana had a blast calling it. Bingo continues to grow and we have close to 20 people each time.
There were 7 new Meals on Wheels clients this month and 7 re-assessments of our current MOW clients. This included home-visits and meetings with these clients. Caroleana enjoyed meeting these local seniors and hearing their stories.
She also hosted a Birthday Party here at the center March 20th. Our Silvertones Choir group sang and Safeway donated a cake. Chelsea assisted with serving cake and ice cream at the party. See photos below!
Caroleana’s Resource Fair is filling up quickly. She currently has 14 businesses/organizations that will host tables for the Fair on May 23, 2023. Please help spread the word about this awesome upcoming event!
Chelsea spent March by continuing to help with public engagement for the Community Campus Park development plan- including updating a flyer for the last open house and attending the last open house. She also published final survey links as they were complete. The end of March concluded the main robust public engagement portion of the Park project (see image below for a list of outreach activities). The LGGP grant was also submitted prior to the April 1st deadline.
Chelsea spent time working with the team to determine what shelters and greenspace we can add to our offerings. She researched prices of other regional shelters/park rentals. She worked to build these new park rentals into Sportsman so they’re ready come July 1st . Our waivers have also gotten an update based on what we’ve been learning from rentals over the last 8 months or so.
Chelsea talked with Sportsman and learned how to issue batch credits. She then taught the rest of the team and together they issued credits/refunds for the plethora of classes canceled due to the weather.
Rochelle and Chelsea participated in the Agenda manager trainings to learn how to use the new civic software system for our agendas and meeting minutes.
Chelsea created a vacation calendar to be able to more effectively track everyone’s vacation schedules as the department continues to grow.
Our summer Recreation guide has been proofed and sent to the designer. We will have some limited copies and a digital version available the beginning of May.
Marc’s Senior trips for March were mostly full if not completely full, although some ended up getting cancelled due to weather.
Marc also worked to update the meals on wheels routes as we’ve taken on new clients. Our total meal deliveries for March were 1,112, even with 3 missed days due to weather. However, Marc did make a few special deliveries during the closures for people who needed emergency meals.
John, Marc, Carol, and Caroleana worked to get our electrical room cleaned out and our storage closet reorganized. It looks so good- way to go team!
John worked with our consultant firm to review the final draft for our Financial Sustainability Policy which has now been submitted. He’s also creating a slide deck to present our work, review our goals and explain the policy to the Parks Board and the Council.
He’s working with the ORPA 2023 Summer Leader Academy as a speaker to provide professional development around behavior management and trauma informed care.
He’s also working with a custom display designer to start raising the bar for our Holiday Lights experience at Meinig Park.
John, Rochelle, and Tiana worked on departmental budget reports for the 2023-2025 biennium.
Movies and Music in the Park Update:
We have 3 movies confirmed
July 21st Puss n Boots
August 5th Spiderman No Way Home
August 19th Buzz Lightyear
The music line up:
July 12th Taken By the Sky- Fleetwood Mac Tribute
July 26th Nate Botsford- Local Country Artist
August 9th Radical Revolution (80’s rock and pop)
Businesses that are sponsoring Music and Movies in the park 2023:
Hoodview, Washman, Smoky Hearth, Whippersnappers, Les Swaab, Bill’s Automotive, Konell Construction, Trimble Estates, CCB, Everfresh, and Timberline.
Carol’s goal is $14,000 and we are at $12,100. More to come!
Parks Monthly Report:
Upcoming Events/Important Dates:
April 6th- Senior Egghunt at the library
April 6th- Respite resumes at the Center
April 7th- Teen Flashlight Egghunt at Meinig Park.
April 14th- Senior trip to the Museum of Oregon Territories & Lunch at Coasters Crossing (already full)
April 21st- Senior trip to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival (already full)
April 22nd- Solve Clean up
April 26th- Arbor Day Celebration at Centennial Plaza
April 29th- Dia del Nino/Children’s Day
May 23rd- Senior Resource Fair at the Center