Carol:
The Winter Recreation Guide is being worked on and will have new classes for teens and youth like science and martial arts . The goal is to pass out the 2026 Winter Guide the day of the tree lighting which is Nov 21st.
This year with combined gold, silver and friends of the lighting sponsors Carol went out and received $21,750. That is just sponsorships. That is just about double the sponsorships from last year. More donations are coming in for Holiday décor sponsors and vendor sponsors during the Jolly Trolley events. We have brand new businesses that are involved for the first time.
Sandy Library and the Recreation Dept partnered together for the Halloween Hunt in Meinig. It was a little cold but over 50 kids still showed up.
Carol also helped out the library get some monetary donations, and raffle baskets for their fundraiser towards the mobile library van. It was a successful event even though we had to move the event inside the Mt. Hood Pizza and Brew restaurant.
Working on talking to businesses to be part of the merry makeover and getting vendors to sell their goods. The businesses are very excited about doing it again for Winterfest. More details to come next month.
Amy:
– Mt Storm Instructional League Finished with a candy filled Halloween class!
– Registration for the Mt Storm basketball league was completed with about 250 children registered!
– We threw a fabulous volunteer appreciation party with the Sandy Library!
– Held the final 2026 Bee City USA Action Group Meeting
– Hosted the Teen Halloween Flashlight Egg Hunt with the Sandy Library
– Hosted a very successful Creepy Crawly Bug Show and Tell Event!
-Reminder- Leave the leaves is still ongoing!
Chelsea:
- Processed invoices related to various park projects.
- Attended meetings in regards to various ongoing park projects, including weekly meetings for Deer Pointe Park. We also had a few meetings at Meinig for the renovation project.
- Finalized and printed the November/December Senior Newsletter. We mailed out about 50 copies and emailed out to our email subscribers.
- Updated the center TV with the most updated flyers and information.
- Continued to monitor the budget for Deer Pointe park.
- Printed closure and upcoming holiday signs for the upcoming holidays.
- Assisted with Elevator repair scheduling.
- Designed our Senior Holiday Gift Exchange flyer.
- Input all of our block reservations for the Winter Recreation Guide classes and events.
- Submitted a few maintain-x repairs on behalf of the center.
John:
Winterfest:
Staff continued planning and coordination efforts for the upcoming Winterfest celebration. Specific areas of focus this month included organizing the Jingle Jog, Merry Makeover, and Stocking Stroll events. Staff also reached out to local businesses to encourage participation and partnership in Winterfest activities. Additionally, work continued on securing the necessary permits for Storybook Lane and temporary storage areas to support event logistics.
Mountain Storm Youth Basketball:
Registration for the Mountain Storm Youth Basketball League closed on October 31. Staff provided administrative and logistical support to ensure smooth registration processing, team organization, and coordination with coaches, volunteers, and families. Continued oversight and general program management are ongoing as the season begins.
Senior Services:
The department continues to provide strong support for our Client Services Coordinator and Transportation Coordinator, ensuring the delivery of essential senior services across multiple federally and state-supported programs. These include:
- Nutrition Program: Providing nutritious meals and social connection through our Congregate Meal setting and Meals on Wheels.
- Transportation Services: Offering transportation for recreational and social outings as well as access to nutritional programs, including Congregate Meals, the Shopping Shuttle, and Meals on Wheels.
- Research-Based Fitness Programs: Tai Chi
- Energy Assistance: Assisting seniors with access to seasonal utility support.
- Case Management: Offering individualized guidance and coordination of resources to meet client needs.
- Reassurance Program: Providing regular wellness checks and social connections for isolated seniors.
- Information and Assistance: Serving as a trusted resource to connect seniors and caregivers to available community and state programs.
Oregon Recreation and Park Association (ORPA) Annual Conference
The 2025 Oregon Recreation and Park Association (ORPA) Annual Conference was held in Eugene, Oregon. The event brought together recreation and park professionals from across the state to share best practices, attend educational sessions, and celebrate achievements within the field.
The City of Sandy Parks and Recreation Department participated in several educational sessions covering topics such as special event management, inclusion and accessibility initiatives, and innovative funding and grant opportunities.We are also proud to share that the City of Sandy was formally recognized at the conference, receiving the Design and Construction Award for Cedar Park, featuring the Basecamp skatepark, pump track, and jumpline. This award highlights the City’s commitment to creating inclusive, high-quality recreational spaces that serve both residents and visitors while supporting Sandy’s broader community and tourism goals.
Meals on Wheels Program Update
Due to a reduction in funding that supports Sandy’s Meals on Wheels program, the department has implemented adjustments to help balance fiscal responsibility while maintaining essential nutritional services for homebound seniors.
Effective this month, Meals on Wheels participants will receive five meals per week instead of seven. This change allows the department to continue providing meal delivery services within current budget limitations.
At this time, new clients wanting to join the Sandy Meals on Wheels program will be added to a wait list and communicated with regularly to provide updates to service.
These program changes were made thoughtfully to ensure that Sandy’s Meals on Wheels program remains financially sustainable while continuing to meet the nutritional and social needs of local seniors.
Caroleana:
Caroleana had over 277 senior related calls this month. She conducted 5 home visits this month, with 2 being for current meals on wheels clients and conducting their yearly reassessments.
Caroleana helped support our team by packing coolers several times throughout the month and delivered several routes for the Meals on Wheels program.
We continued to hold congregate lunches on Tuesday. In the month of October we served 85 meals and had 4 new guests on the 4 Tuesdays. Twice we had one volunteer who played the piano while participants ate their lunch; which was very enjoyable.
Enjoyed the volunteer appreciation event at Meinig Park at the beginning of the month.
My responsibilities included greeting attendees and handing out raffle tickets. I enjoyed assembling the prize baskets with Carol Cohen and having the opportunity to present the winning one to each volunteer who won.
Continued the planning process for our annual Veterans pinning ceremony.
I attended the ORPA conference in Eugene. It was a great networking event and a great conference. This event highlighted the commitment of Oregon’s Parks and Recreation professionals.
For Energy Assistance in October 18 applications were approved and several others are pending.
Marc:
First and foremost, I forgot to include the picture of John on his very first outing in last month’s report so here it is!
Senior Trips:
- Hike & Lunch. We did the Rilee Loop trail at Bob and Crystal Rille Park in Newberg with lunch at Red Robin afterwards in Wilsonville. That is a hidden gem of a trail system that I highly recommend. It was our first time going there and I will definitely be going back and taking my wife and dog there. Unfortunately we ended up as a small group of 6 as we did not get many sign ups and there were a couple last minute cancellations.
- Hood River Harvest Festival. Great time as always on this outing and luckily it had stopped raining right after we got there! We had a full bus with a waiting list and made a stop at Packer Orchards & Bakery on the way back to Sandy.
- Dine out at Eagle Creek Saloon. 13 people with 3 meeting us there.
- Centralia Train Trip. It was so popular back in June we decided to do it again! It was another fun train trip with an absolutely beautiful day in Centralia! We had a full bus with a waitlist.
- Hike & Lunch. We went and did the Willamette Greenway trail since we had to cancel it back in July due to the excessive heat and we had lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Carol joined us for that hike and there were a total of 13 of us. We even had a Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy join us!
- Spirit Mountain Casino. Only 10 people this time but everybody had lots of fun. One person even asked after we loaded up and were getting ready to head back if we were going again next month!
- Dine out at Barlow Trail Roadhouse. 12 people with 2 meeting us there.
Meals on Wheels:
- 763 meals delivered
Parks & Facilities Team:
- 152 staff hours dedicated to Winterfest installation
- Storm cleanup completed across multiple sites
- Our new Facilities Maintenance team member is making great progress in caring for City facilities
- Playgrounds inspected; hazards identified and corrected on the spot or parts ordered as needed
- Trash and fishing line cleanup completed at Sandy River Park
- Deer Pointe Park is in the final stage of construction
- A challenge we encountered this month was one of the Winterfest bridge arches was stolen from our storage location.
Upcoming dates to remember:
– Nov 2nd, 2-4pm- Educational Fall Walk with Clackamas River Basin Council
– November 3rd & 5th- Mt. Storm Open Gyms for grades 5 & 6
– November 11th- Center closed for Veteran’s Day
– November 12th & 13th Skills assessments for grades 5/6.
-Storybrook Lane installation begins November 12 — the lower parking lot behind Joe’s Donuts will be inaccessible through early January
-November 14th- Veteran’s Pinning Ceremony at the Community/Senior center.
– November 17th- Coaches meeting for grades 3 & 4
– November 19th- Coach Meeting for teams for grades 5/6 boys and girls.
– November 21st- Sandy Tree Lighting at Centennial Plaza/Winterfest kick off
– November 27th & 28th- Center Closed for Thanksgiving