Community/Senior Center Update:

May was the center’s first month back offering a more robust schedule of outings for the seniors. All were full within the first week. The seniors had a great time.

Carol has been busy getting summer recreational events planned and assisting with senior outings. She has softball leagues (6 teams) starting the beginning of June. See down below in our upcoming events section for more of what Carol has been working on.

Marc, our Transportation Coordinator/Driver, completed his Ride Connection training, had our vehicles serviced, and is getting the hang of his new job. He likes getting to take the seniors on outings and exploring local places with them.

John, our Center Manager, has been busy continuing to get the Community/Senior Center fully operational again. He’s been interviewing building monitors. One is starting in June which means we can start to rent out the building for events. Our waivers have also been updated which was part of that process as well. Our software system (Sportsman) is now fully updated to help us handle those requests. A 2nd Recreation Coordinator position has been posted which will allow us to offer event more recreational activities to our community. The Parks & Recreation webpages have been updated to more accurately reflect current happenings. Our point of sale system has come a along way since last month and the department is feeling like we have a good handle on having the update fully complete soon.

Chelsea is continuing to learn her new position as the Executive Assistant. She’s been helping John get the website and Sportsman updated. She is becoming our designated flyer designer using Canva. A lot of prep in May went into the June newsletter which has been completely redesigned into a bifold design. Chelsea also attended her first Parks and Trails Advisory Board meeting, completed her 2nd set of meeting minutes, and learned how to upload the meeting video to Youtube and Icompass.

Our Meals on wheels drivers delivered a total of 1,220 meals in May.

Parks Update:

Upcoming Events/Important Dates:

June 20th- Center closed in observance of Juneteenth

June 23rd- Longest Day Parkway at Cascadia Park

June 25th- Noah’s Quest 5k/10k/Kiddie Run

July 4th- Center closed in observance of the 4th of July

July 4th- Firework Show at Dusk

Summer Concerts and Movies in park (Various dates this summer)

Aging Adult Services Highlight

The center remains open limited hours but we’re looking forward to a full reopening in May. We continue to hire new key staff and welcome 3 new additions to the team:

John Wallace, Center Manager

Chelsea Jarvis, Executive Assistant

Marc Young, Transportation Coordinator/Driver

Marc Young is the Community Center’s Driver/Transportation Coordinator. Marc is a Southern California transplant (he says, “don’t hold it against me”).  His mother grew up there and he spent many weeks every year visiting family and learning what it takes to be an Oregonian.  He feels that growing up in Southern California had its benefits.  Marc is a roller coaster junkie and he lived minutes away from Six Flags. Other than missing his occasional corkscrew, he stated he feels beyond grateful to be living in the community of Sandy.  Marc’s enthusiasm is contagious, “I enjoy the atmosphere, the seasons (especially the snow), the mild traffic and the relationships that I get to make.”  For the past 2 years he worked for ComTrans, which is part of the AMR family, as a non-emergency medical transport driver.  He loved being of service to the aging population and he is thrilled to continue that work, giving back directly to the city that he loves.
Chelsea Jarvis is the Parks and Recreation Department’s Executive Assistant. She is a Gresham native currently living in Rhododendron with her Husband and their Alaskan Malamute. Chelsea says, “Living close to Mt. Hood has been such a blessing- we’re close to family and so many different recreational activities. The views of the mountains are always inspiring.” She has Bachelors in Business Administration from Eastern Oregon University with concentrations in Hospitality and Management. After graduating college, she worked at Timberline Lodge for 7 years in their Sales and Catering Department. Chelsea started as an Administrative Assistant and Catering Coordinator, which gave her a great base of office structure and flow. She worked her way up to Sales and Catering Manager where she contracted and finalized weddings, conferences, and day trips for up to 250 people. For the last 2 years, Chelsea fulfilled a long standing desire to work with Seniors by working at a memory care/assisted living facility in Gresham where she did a variety of activities with their 60 seniors. That opportunity showed her how much she truly enjoyed working with seniors and how incredibly rewarding it can be. Outside of work, Chelsea enjoys reading, baking, hosting parties, and all things home design. Chelsea and her husband love to take weekend camping trips locally, along with regular trips to Leavenworth and Palm Springs, they are looking forward to some upcoming International travel as well. Chelsea’s exceptional customer service skills are already coming through! She writes, “I am excited to join the City of Sandy’s Parks and Recreation Department where I can incorporate my administrative, event management, and senior skills. I’m looking forward to growing with the team.” 
John Wallace is the Community Center Manager (and recreation dabler!). John has lived in Sandy with his family for the last 3 years.  His wife, Kayla, two sons, Quincy and Winston, have loved the transition from the city.  John enjoys the fact that they are closer to the mountain, family, and the community. All these things bring him an enormous amount of Joy.  Before starting his career with the City of Sandy’s Parks and Recreation Department, he spent 14 years working in public education.  Most recently, he worked for the David Douglas School District.  During his time at David Douglas he served many roles.  John was a PE teacher, a 5th grade teacher, a Student Behavior Specialist and the school’s Student Achievement Specialist.  Working in education afforded him summers off which let him do the work that he was most passionate about.  For the past 5 years, during the summer, he worked as an Administrator for the Camp Kiwanilong Summer Youth Program, a small summer camp in Warrenton on the Oregon coast.  This is a camp that he attended as a child and worked at all through high school and college.  This is where he met his wife working there as a young counselor and many years later, after his first son was born, he was able to work for them again helping to develop staff, program and operations.  John’s passion and collaborative leadership shines through. He writes, “I take pride in working in positions where I get to serve people, especially people within the community I live.  I feel fortunate that I get to continue this work in the city that my family calls home as the new Community Center/Senior Center Manager for the City of Sandy’s Parks and Recreation Department.”

Here is a look at our May Calendar- as you can see it’s growing- we’re looking forward to offering even more activities for the month of June.

John, Chelsea, and the rest of the team are working hard to get trained on Sportsman (the center’s software program), get it updated, and get a point of sale system in place for our reopening in May. They’re also working to get our website updated. John has started accepting applications for building monitors.

John and Marc are putting in hours towards their Ride Connection Training.

Our Meals on Wheels drivers delivered a total of 1,399 meals for the Month of April.

Recreation & Special Events Highlights

Carol Cohen, our Recreation Coordinator has been busy finalizing sponsorships for the music and movies. With her hard work, we have reached $11,000 in Sponsorships including Sponsors such as Trimble Rentals, Washman, Everfresh Fruit Co, Clackamas County Bank, Les Schwab Sandy, Timberline, Hometown Lenders, Hoodview Disposal, Whippersnappers, and Konnell Construction. Way to go Carol!

Carol is also working to promote more of the programs by going to some of the local businesses like daycares, preschools, churches, and Sandy Vista apartments to get the word out more.

Sandy’s Solve It annual clean up was on April 23^rd.  We had over 50 people and the 20 yard dumpster was completely full.  The volunteers felt so proud of what they accomplished.  Total volunteer hours that day was 184 hours.

The Sandy Senior Egghunt was a blast.  We had close to 30 seniors who searched for eggs and golden eggs that were painted.  Those that found the painted eggs received gift cards from local Sandy businesses.

The Teen Flashlight Egghunt had over 100 kids and it was dry.  The Parks Department did a great job cleaning up the park for that event.  Golden egg prizes were also gift cards from local businesses

Summer sport camps that are contracted with Skyhawks are filling up. Those camps will be at different Sandy parks like Tupper, Sandy Bluff, Bornstedt, and the Sandy Community Campus.

Softball sign- ups are coming in.  Our goal is to have at least 6 teams and we’re well on our way!

Parks & Maintenance Highlights

Upcoming Meetings

Parks & Trails Advisory Board Meeting- May 5th, 2022 at 7:00pm

What to look forward to:

Senior trips for May: Dinner at Bigfoot Growlers and a viewing of the Sandy High school play Freaky Friday (May 13th), a hike at Wildwood and lunch at Wraptitude in Welches (May 26th), and a Mystery drive (May 23rd). These events are full but a waiting list is available.

The Community/Senior Center will be closed on May 30th in observance of Memorial Day.

We’re gearing up for the Longest Day Parkway event on June 23rd and Noah’s Quest on June 25th.