June went by quick here at the Center- see below for what we’ve been up to all month.

Carol:

Accomplishments: June was the start of the Adult softball League. Skyhawks camps, Longest Day Parkway and Noah’s Quest also took place in June.

The Adult Softball League has 8 full teams and all the games are at the Sandy High School.

Longest Day Parkway was another success. It is a great way to show the community what the City has to offer and promote programs, events, and amenities. Close to 400 people showed up at Bornstedt Park for this year’s event.

This year was the 18th year for Noah’s Quest. It was a perfect day for everyone to be together. We had over 20 volunteers helping out on the course and at registration tables. New this year we released 100 butterflies at the beginning before the kiddie run. This year one of our local seniors who participates in our senior hikes and trips won the weekend getaway in Astoria. That weekend getaway is a house in Astoria and is something that gets raffled off every year.

Amy:

The first makerspace class was held Wednesday, June 28th. There are 11 teens participating in the program. A lot of combined efforts between the Sandy library and Sandy P&R made this program possible!

All 3 new building monitors have been trained and started working!

Posted a lot of Facebook/Instagram posts to help get the word out about our ongoing events and classes.

National Pollinator Week was celebrated with it’s own Pollinator/Bee City booth at the Longest Day Parkway event and was the focus for a Community Gardens Social. 

Caroleana:

Attended a two day conference hosted by Oregon Care Partners with nationally recognized dementia care and training expert Teepa Snow.  The conference was very informative and helpful for her work for the ‘Change of Pace’ respite program.  Reducing the stigma with dementia and helping family members partner with the individual who is experiencing the brain change.  The current and future respite participants and caregivers will benefit from the hands-on skills and tools learned.  

She also attended several trainings online:

-Oral Health and Coverage for Seniors with the National Center on Law and Elder Rights 

-Meals on Wheels Training through Meals on Wheels America 

As well, Caroleana had an in person training with Energy Assistance through the director with Clackamas County.  This month 30 senior households were helped with 4 of those being home visits.  (Way to go Caroleana!)

In June, Caroleana also coordinated an AARP Safe Driving Course at the center.  Which involved setting up the room day and reminder calls to the 16 seniors who took the course.

Hosted a Senior Birthday Party celebrating the birthdays of April, May and June. We got the cake from Safeway again and had a lovely time with over 20 seniors. 

Caroleana is also working on future classes and events at the center.  One with CASH Oregon through Metropolitan Family Service Oregon for the possibility of future tax help at the center.   This was a large need this last year and we had to send seniors to other centers.  This organization also has the possibility of online help.  

The second collaboration would be with Mt. Hood Hospice for future classes in the Fall on the topic of grief and why hospice.  

Lastly, Caroleana is also planning a fundraiser for March 2024. 

Chelsea:

Completed normal duties such as the Parks & Trails Agenda for our monthly board meeting, paid project invoices, attended a quarterly department meeting, created the July/August newsletter and issued it + updated the website to have summer outings listed, and ordered items for our senior summer BBQ.

Assisted with the Invitation to Bid- sent out full packet to interested firms, kept an up to date planholders list, and updated webpage.

Ran with Public engagement for the Community Campus Playground design- created a survey, involved the Parks Board, updated project webpage, and helped draft facebook posts.

Created a flyer for the Combat Veterans memorial fundraiser and another flyer for the Mountain Festival Parade to advertise prime viewing to our seniors.

Took a heat class training.

Created a spreadsheet to help with City Departments participation in the Mountain Festival Parade and coordinated with the mountain fest parade coordinator. 

Marc:

Trips:

-Lunch at Biscuits (full) with 2 seniors meeting us there.

-Dinner at Nicholas 10 people with 2 meeting us there. First time going there for most people and for trying Lebanese/Mediterranean food and they loved it.

-Hike & Lunch at Browns Ferry park and Panera (Full).

-Hike & Lunch at Historic Columbia River State Highway trail and lunch at Bridgeside in Cascade Locks (Full).

-Scandinavian Midsummer Festival In Astoria- 10 people!

-Putt Putt (mini golf) at Tualatin Island Greens and lunch at the Island Grill (Full).

 Took a trip to Costco trip to get food for Longest Day Parkway – 288 hot dogs and buns, 288 ice cream bars – we went through them all!

Got all the preventative maintenance (oil changes, tire rotations, ADA ramp and lift inspections) done on our center’s vehicles that ride connection requires every 6 months.

Meals on wheels total for June was 1295 meals!

John:

Coordinated Longest Day Parkway. Thanks to the team and other city departments for this great community event. We had one of our biggest turn outs yet with almost 400 people!

Presented the Parks and Recreation’s new Financial Sustainability plan and Master Fee schedule to the Council at the June 5th council meeting. This was then adopted on June 20th as part of the consent agenda.

Hosted a very productive Winterfest planning meeting as we’re gearing up for December events.

Started the process to establish a park naming committee for the Community Campus Park.

Parks Monthly Report:

Upcoming and important dates/events:

July 3rd- Senior 4th of July BBQ at the Center

July 4th- Fireworks at the High school

July 5th-7th Mt. Festival kids events

July 6th- Mt. Festival Parade- Parks & Recreation is participating

July 12th- 1st Concert in the Park for the 2023 season!

July 21st- First movie in the park!

July 26th- 2nd Concert in the park!

May brought some wonderful warm and sunny weather. The department was excited to break out their summer clothes.

Caroleana:

Advertised for the Resource Fair via flyers around town. The Resource Fair was on May 23rd. We had over 80 people in attendance including 16 business vendors.

Caroleana also brought in braille bingo cards from Oral Hull so a client can participate in bingo.

Coordinated a new senior birthday drawing- we want to thank McDonalds and Scoop and Swirl for their donations.

Energy Assistance for summer cooling has started. Appointments are coming in. She also met with the director of OEAP for further training. A total of 6 energy assistance applications were completed this month.

Researched caregiver support, education, and online videos for respite caregivers.

Coordinated a large donation of Oranges and Girl Scout Cookies for our Meals on Wheels clients. Also provided MOW clients with health education and flyers pertaining to the center.

Our Respite program, Change of Pace, has continued to grow. In May, we incorporated visitors for firefighter day (Thanks Laurie!), a dog visit, weekly music, and tap dancers.

Attended a training about hoarding.

Organized an AARP safe driving class to happen here at the Center in June.

Had 6 new sign ups for meals on Wheels. Also connected them with food stamps, the library, and energy assistance.

Continued to send out thank you cards for donations and also for all the vendors for the resource fair.

Chelsea:

Helped mail out Longest Day Postcards, worked on a project update flyer for the community Campus Park project, created a banner for the playground engagement webpage (coming soon!), and created a menu for our upcoming summer senior BBQ.

Researched Bid websites and PGE grants for Winterfest.

Mailed prevailing wage documents for the Cedar Ridge Connector trail. Proofed documents for the Invitation to Bid for the Community Campus Skate Park and Pump Track construction.

Updated all our of Park and building rental waivers.

Took care of reoccurring tasks of the Parks & Trails Advisory Board meeting, agenda, and minutes. Paid project invoices. Ordered supplies, ect.

Marc:

The casino trip to Spirit Mountain was full. The group had a great lunch at P.F. Changs in Tigard. The Roadhouse Dinner had 20 people in attendance (one of our largest yet due to some seniors meeting us there!). Both hikes were either full or mostly full. The Iris garden was a hit with most of the group coming back with potted plants. We also gave the seniors the option getting a boxed lunch from Tollgate which went over well.

Shopping shuttles remain full. Regular picks up occurred for the Monday morning cards and puzzle group and Bingo/Pinochle. Regular maintenance got done to the bus and MV1.

The Meals on wheels total for May was 1211.

John:

Orchestrated getting a new roof on the Community/senior Center. This is complete as of June 5th. It looks great!

Attended budget committee meetings.

Met again with the Combat Motorcycle Veterans Association and helped them plan their upcoming fundraiser that will benefit the Veterans Memorial.

Worked on compiling policies for Clackamas County to show we’re in compliance with OAA Funding requirements.

Created a presentation for our June P&R department quarterly meeting.

Carol:

The Summer Guide came out the first week in May.

Adult Softball games started May 31st.

Posters for music and movies are complete and will be distributed to businesses the
beginning of June.

Carol and Amy have been training weekly on the new laser engraver that is in the art
room. Classes will be offered for teens starting the end of June and it’s called “makerspace” which will include the laser engraver, sticker maker, cricket machine and button maker for teens. This new program will be led by library staff.

Amy:

Assisted with interviewing and hiring 3 new building monitors and started training one of them. Created the schedule for the building monitors in June.

Cleaned out the outdoor shed, and the many closets in the community center. Did a LOT of spring cleaning this month.

Held a bee city booth at the library’s May 15th pollinator presentation.

Celebrated National Bee Day on May 20th by doing a community gardens work day. During our garden social later in the event we placed leafcutter bee cocoons into the bee houses in the gardens.

Helped D31 Foundation build raised garden beds for seniors at Avamere. 

Was interviewed by Brit (Pamplin) on Longest Day for an article on the event. 

Submitted articles for the Sandy Source. 

Parks Monthly Report:

Upcoming Important Dates:

• National Pollinator Week – June 19 to June 25
• Longest Day Parkway – June 22

• Noah’s Quest – June 24

• First Makerspace Class on June 28
• Summer camps with Skyhawks (mini hawks basketball, baseball, soccer) & multi sport (capture the flag, dodgeball, & ultimate frisbee) starts the last week in June at Tupper Park. The other camps will be held throughout all the city parks this summer.

April seemed to come and go quickly. We stayed busy here at the center.

Caroleana officially restarted the Center’s respite program. So far she’s had 4 great Thursday Respite days. She is working on some upcoming special guest visitors for the program. Stay turned for photos next month.

Caroleana attended Grief Open Group at Ant Farm. In the fall, we’re hoping to partner with Mt. Hood Hospice to offer Grief 101 classes here at the center.

May 23rd is the Senior Resource Fair at the Center. Caroleana has done an amazing job at getting businesses and organizations to attend. She’s been doing lots of advertising for it as well. In June, she is working with AARP to put on a Safe Driving Class.

There were 9 new Meals on Wheels clients signed up in April- and lots of home visits. Caroleana has started a monthly newsletter that goes out to these clients with resources and information. It’s been a great addition to our Meals on Wheels program. Caroleana also completed 7 energy assistance applications.

Chelsea spent the month completing lots of various documents. She created the May/June Newsletter and got it printed and mailed/emailed out. Marc and her also started brainstorming ideas for Summer (July/August).

For April we had a Parks & Trails Advisory Board meeting and Chelsea worked up the meeting minutes after.

Chelsea attended various meetings- A planning meeting for Winter Fest 2023, a meeting for Mountain fest 2023, and 2 budget committee meetings at City Hall.

Chelsea also processed invoices for various ongoing projects and submitted a quarterly grant update for the Cedar Ridge Trail.

Chelsea updated the Longest Day Postcard and flyer for this year’s Longest Day Parkway Event. Last year at this time, Canva (our design software) was still really new to her so it was fun to see how much has been learned over the last year of designing documents/publications. She also created a building monitor job posting flyer, a youth summer sport camp flyer, and senior summer bbq flyer.

April started out busy for Carol with all ages celebrating Easter in our park and library.
Our seniors hopped on the trolley and were dropped off at the library to hunt for
Easter eggs in between books and all over the building. There were 5 golden eggs and each egg was worth a gift card from a local business here in Sandy.

The following day the teens showed up on Friday night to hunt for Easter eggs in Meinig Park. The middle schoolers went first and over 100 kids showed up with flashlights. The High schoolers went out after and we had close to 50 kids. Again, all the golden egg prizes were from Local businesses.

The summer recreation guide was finalized and sent to Pamplin to be printed and will be completed and ready for distribution the first week in May. Carol is truly the head of our recreation guide and although the whole team helps, we couldn’t do this 3 times a year without her!

The adult Softball League is just about complete with 8 teams this year. Last year we had 6. Games start on May 31st and will end with a playoff on July 29th. Amy created the softball season schedule, which was a huge undertaking, but it’s done!

Amy hosted a Community Gardens Social and Work Party to celebrate national gardening month. They placed mason bee cocoons into the bee boxes that are installed in the gardens, educated gardeners (and kiddos) about mason bees and cleaned up the garden shed! Speaking of bees- Bee City’s First Quarterly Meeting took place – Amy met with a group of 5 to discuss the past activities Sandy has done for bees and what we can do in 2023 and 2024.

SOLVE IT In Sandy took place on April 22nd – We had 54 volunteers and hit 10 different locations to clean Sandy for Earth Day!

Arbor Day was celebrated April 26th in Centennial Plaza- We celebrated this by having snacks from trees, planting a tree, collected haikus from the community, and the mayor spoke.

Amy participated in Children’s Day @ the Library – She provided a booth for this event and shared park information. Amy loves supporting the library’s events.

Amy spent time Networking w/ the Chamber of Commerce at Morning Perk.

Amy has also started driving and securing patrons for the first time for multiple senior events. Our programs are so successful we are taking two vehicles to some of the outings we offer. This means we are able to help even more citizens of Sandy. This has also given her good practice with the van. Next step will be driving the bus!

Amy is in the process of taking over coordination of the building monitors and creating their schedules. They had a training meeting, transitioned the employees onto a scheduling app, and talked about challenges as a group. It was a very successful meeting. 

-Low Mow Spring started. “We want to encourage citizens to let their grass grow a little longer this spring to support bees and other pollinators. Sandy code allows grass to grow up to 10 inches in height. You can print out your own sign to advertise your support or pick up a sign from the Sandy Community Center! To support pollinators, we’ll be letting the grass grow longer at Deer Point, Melissa Field, Big Fir, and Champion Way Park.  These are open public green spaces (non-developed parkland) where long grass won’t interfere with park and activity use, but will still help pollinators.  We will continue to mow and keep our high use parks in good shape for public use.”

John spent the month starting to gear up for the holiday season. He hosted a meeting with Khrys Jones from the Sandy Chamber to talk about creative ideas to get local businesses and the Sandy Community involved in our Winter Holiday celebration. John and Tiana also met with an electrician who is providing a quote to add more electrical outlets to Meinig Park. We want to grow the park holiday light experience.  More lights means more electricity.

• John contracted with Bold Media to purchase a custom designed Sandy Logo made of Holiday lights (15ft by 4ft). This will be a great new “Sandy” edition to the holiday/winter fest experience.

Tiana and John are exploring a partnership with the Combat Veterans Association.  We are working together to fundraise money for concrete repairs to the Veterans Memorial.

For the past year, John, Rochelle, and the team have been working with Amelia 110% to create a departmental Financial Sustainability Plan.  This plan will help guide where our Taxpayers money is spent and where we offset those expenses by generating revenue.  This month he presented the Policy to the Parks and Trails Advisory Board which was motioned to take before City Council for adoption.

As a Recreation Team, Carol, Amy and John met with staff at Oral Hull to start exploring options for Sandy youth aquatics.

Marc was overjoyed to not have any more cancelled trips due to weather. The seniors did have a great time at the Tulip festival and the rain even held off for them. They also enjoyed a day at the Museum of Oregon Territories. Dine outs included Oswego Grill and an Italian restaurant in Troutdale. The two hikes for the month were Salish Pond in Fairview and the Cedar Island Trail at Mary S Young Park. These trips have become so popular that most fill up within the first few days of opening. The dine outs tend to be the favorite.

-Due to all the Meals on Wheels clients Caroleana has been adding, Marc has been busy inputting them all into the Meals on Wheels routes and organizing their deliveries. 1168 meals were delivered in April.

We had a 1 year work Anniversary Party for John, Chelsea, and Marc!

Parks Monthly Report:

Upcoming and important events/dates:

• -No Mow May in full swing – As part of Sandy’s commitment to being a Bee City, this year we’re introducing “No Mow May” and “Low Mow Spring!”
• -Spring Celebration Bee City Booth on Sat May 6
• -Bringing Pollinators to your Garden Library Event May 15th – there will be a Bee City Booth – see poster attached
• -National Bee Day May 20th (unfortunately we aren’t doing anything big with it this year, but it’s a day we should remind people of) 
• Senior Resource Fair- Tuesday May 23, 10 am to 2 pm.  
• Energy Assistance can continue through the year- Cooling assistance specifically  can start in June 
• May 29th- Center Closed
• June 10th walk or Run with Pride which is held at Sandy Bluff Park
• June 22 Longest Day Parkway which is held at Bornstedt Park
• June 24 Noah’s Quest which is held at Sandy Bluff Park.
• Skyhawk Camps start end of June

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 3^rd-6^th 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

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 

January seemed to go by quick at the Community/Senior Center.

The Community Campus Park Development plan officially got underway. January was month 1 of 3 full months of robust public engagement. Chelsea worked with the team on creating a project fact sheet and public engagement flyer (available in both English and Spanish). These flyers are available at the community center and are being used for tabling events. A copy of the fact sheet was also mailed out to the neighbors closest to the park. Chelsea created a project webpage that has a lot of information on it along with copies of the fact sheet and public engagement flyer. The first open house took place at the Community Center on January 26th. 34 people signed in and we estimate there was close to a total of 50-60 people there.

Chelsea and John worked on updating the Department’s reconciliation policy to streamline it and also help out the accounting team.

Carol’s Teen Silent Disco is scheduled for March 17th. Chelsea helped by creating the flyer. Registration is now open for this event and sign ups have started. Carol collected $250 in sponsorships for this event and also received pizza as an in kind donation- way to go Carol! A special shout out to Jeff Aprati for always getting Facebook updated to reflect our events.

Mt. Storm started off with games in January at Oregon Trail Academy,
Firwood, Welches, and Cedar Ridge. 3rd and 4th grade games are during the
week and the 5th and 6th games are all on Saturdays at Cedar Ridge. Some high school kids that play on the high school basketball team are helping ref. We have a total of 222 kids that signed up for this program. There have been some challenges with staffing in regards to a lack of gym monitors and referees.

Some new recreation classes have become hits at the community center such as Kinderdance and Mad Science.

Amy, our new Recreation Coordinator, spent the month of January settling in. Her first major under taking was bringing back the K-2 Instructional Mountain Storm program. This involved creating lesson plans, ordering supplies, creating a flyer, building a webpage, and inputting information into our software system to allow registrations. We’re happy to report this filled up extremely fast (within a week) and is going well.

Amy also participated in some tabling events to promote the Community Campus Park project and our upcoming events like the Teen Silent Disco and the Community Garden. The seed swap was her largest tabling event with an estimated 100 people in attendance. Amy also created a flyer for a new recreation class- kid’s Tumbling. The first few sessions of these tumbling classes were very popular and filled up in a number of days. Way to go Carol for finding a tumbling instructor!

Caroleana stayed busy this month. She signed up 6 new people for Meals on Wheels and completed 19 Energy Assistance applications. 2 home visits were also completed- these are going well so far. She is working with a volunteer, Samantha, to bring back our Respite program. The Respite documentation is complete, including: intake forms, brochures and informational packets. We look forward to reopening this great program in March under Caroleana’s guidance. Caroleana has streamlined our bulletin boards in the entryway. She is currently learning a new tracking document for NAPIS and learned about Mandatory Reporting.

Marc took the seniors on multiple trips including the Dog Show, First Taste of Oregon, dine outs at Cheesecake factory and La Carreta, and a hike at Tickle Creek. He also learned and took over the Transportation Log for John. He rode along with Amy and John on their driver road tests and is now able to administer these tests himself. 945 meals were delivered in January to our Meals on Wheels Recipients.

An exciting development for John and the Center is that our grant check is on the way so we can start to do improvements to our Kitchen which will eventually enable us to start congregate meals again.

December was a great month at the Community/Senior Center. Since so many in our department are new, we were all looking forward to the month of December to get to experience the holiday season with our seniors. We brought back some old events and also added some new ones. The seniors had the opportunity to go to Pittock mansion, Portland International Raceway, and holiday shopping with Marc at Clackamas Town Center. We also had a cookie decorating and a gift exchange here at the center. Caroleana got to meet lots of new seniors at our fun holiday events. She especially enjoyed helping with the gift exchange during our Monday social time. 

Caroleana also sent out flyers to all Meals on Wheels clients regarding energy assistance and has been getting numerous calls regarding the program. During December, 14 Energy Assistance applications were submitted with more in the works. She also researched and tracked down information for Medicaid clients who are on Meals on Wheels. We are starting to get vouchers and have submitted those for reimbursement. Way to go Caroleana! She has also been working on getting tax aid help here at the center for this new year.  AARP is unable to send anyone out to Sandy.  However, a local business has been contacted about offering free tax services and that’s in the works.

The Holiday Lights at Meinig Park were quite the hit! Evenings were cold but full of fun. It was great to see so many in the community come out to see the lights and experience the events. We estimate around 1500 people came out to the 4 events. Unfortunately a windstorm occurred on December 27th, so we were not able to have the Holiday Happy Hour, due to safety concerns and park damage, but we plan to offer it next year! We again want to thank everyone who helped us put these events on and contributed to them. A special shout out to the Parks department for setting up and managing the lights, IT for helping us with the timers, and Sandy PD for their increased patrols of the park to keep all the new equipment safe. We are very excited to have this be an annual event that gets better each year.

Chelsea worked a lot with Rochelle this month on the Community Campus Park Improvement project. They conducted interviews of the top 3 firms, picked a preferred consultant based on written and interview scoring, and then issued an intent to award notice.

Chelsea also organized a fun cookie decorating morning for the seniors, created the January/February newsletter and calendar, and coordinated the employee Holiday Appreciation Luncheon here at the Center.

The 2023 Winter/Spring Recreation guide came out on Dec 5th. It’s full of classes for youth, teens, adults, and seniors.

Mt. Storm practices started in December. Games start on 1/5 and will continue through mid-March.
Carol is busy working on sponsorships for music and movies, July 4th fireworks, and a new teen Silent Disco event in March.

Amy Lytle, our new Recreation Coordinator, started on December 29th in person. She is settling in and learning the ropes.

The month of November was a full month while we geared up for December and all the craziness that comes along with the Holiday season.

November was Caroleana’s first full month with us as our new Client Services Coordinator. She nested in the beginning and set up her new office. There was lots of learning: Napis forms, Energy assistance mailings, how to set up coolers for MOW, ect. She did her first home visit which happened to be her first intake client. She sent out 10 energy assistance applications (which helps residents in Sandy) and called all of last year’s list asking if they would like to apply for this year. Caroleana also designed a new Senior Nutrition brochure, welcome postcard, and thank you card. Along with this, she created a Senior Nutrition Program poster for the Holiday Lights in Meinig Park Event to help gain Nutrition donations for the Center. She also designed a Senior Event Calendar that will be 24X36 inches for the front lobby- including researching prices from 3 companies. The seniors have really liked this feature so far.

John, Caroleana, and one of our volunteers connected with Lake Oswego’s Respite Program Coordinator to observe and discuss how Sandy could replicate a similar program.

John met with the State’s and Clackamas County’s Nutrition coordinators to finalize and discuss our new plan for congregate meals.  We will be partnering with AntFarm to provide free meals in a congregate setting to our local seniors.  We have submitted our menu for dietary approval and are hoping to start marketing in January. John also received and signed final documentation for our $25,000 Congregate Meal Infrastructure Grant. This grant will help us to make necessary repairs to our kitchen.

-Our new Recreation Coordinator, Amy, started remotely.  She will be full time and in person starting December 29th. However, John and her have been working together remotely to get her up to speed before she starts in person. We are looking forward to being fully staffed!

Carol and John finalized and submitted our Winter/Spring Recreation Guide for printing.  Recreation Guides will be available Tuesday December 6th.

Carol has been busy with Mt. Storm. Registration closed with 218 total registrations.  Open Gyms and Skills assessments have been completed- more than 200 5th and 6th graders showed up for these events. Meetings will conclude on Dec 8th with all coaches, rosters will be complete and kids will be on the courts ready to practice before winter break.

The Lights at Meinig were finished up by December 1st. Tiana and her crew spent more that 200 hours total hanging up the lights, placing giant candy canes and nutcrackers, and running all the extension cords and timers. Carol received 1 more sponsorship for the lights in Meinig- Geren’s Farm and Landscape Supply. We are excited for all our holiday events coming up in December and hope the community loves what’s been created.

John, Tiana, and Chelsea attended an IPM focus group meeting with a few of our Parks
& Trails Advisory Board members to discuss our updated IPM.

Marc took a few smaller groups of seniors to Quiltopia and the Holiday Gift Market. He also took a full bus of seniors on a mystery drive through the backroads of Gresham and Damascus ending at Black Bear Diner for lunch. Many had not been to the diner before and loved it. The hike and lunch in Zig Zag was also well received.

Chelsea organized and lead a meeting for our employee appreciation luncheon and hired a caterer. We’re excited to gather with other city personnel on December 15th and celebrate the holidays.

The Community Campus RFP closed on November 16th. We had 4 proposals. They were ranked by a selection committee comprised of the project manager (Parks and Rec director), Parks and Trails Advisory Board Chair, Parks Manager, and Development Services Director. We decided to interview the top three firms and those interviews were scheduled for December 5th.

– We offered a Thanksgiving meal at the center the Tuesday before thanksgiving. We had it catered by Busy Bee Catering. The seniors enjoyed gathering again and getting to share a meal here. Our staff all came together to make this happen and was such a heart warming day for all of us.

Upcoming Events:

-Dec. 10th:  A Dramatic Reading with the Snow Queen from 6-7:30 (Meinig Park)

-Dec 15th: Employee Appreciation Holiday Luncheon at the Center

-Dec. 18th:  Estampa y Santa from 6-7:30 (Meinig Park)

-Dec. 21st: Shortest Day Walkway from 6-7:30 (Meinig Park)

-Dec. 26th: Center Closed (Christmas Day Observed)

-Dec. 28th: Holiday Happy Hour from 6-7:30 (Meinig Park)

October Seniors trips were quite popular. The Hood River Fruit Loop trip sold out within an hour and was a success day of. We already have a plan to offer this trip twice next year due to it’s popularity. There was a hike to Little Zig Zag falls with lunch in Government Camp- the group also made a quick pit stop at Trillium lake for pictures. The pumpkin patch was another fun outing.

Carol finished finalizing all sponsorships for Lights in Meinig. A total of $12,500 came in from
Everfresh Fruit Co, Clackamas Credit Union, Sandy Helping Hands, Barlow Vet, Just Rum Liepold Farms and Sandy Décor. The Recreation Department also spoke to Kiwanis, Sandy Actors Theatre, Sandy Chamber, Ant Farm, and Rotary Club about the lights in Meinig- all of these organizations will be involved and donating their time.

A good chunk of the lights at Meinig have been hung up- Shout out to the Sandy Police Department for increasing patrols around the park for the next few months to hopefully keep any vandalism at bay. We also finalized our Holiday Lights flyer- these will be hung up around Sandy and also neighboring towns starting in November.

Sandy Library and the Recreation Department partnered together for the Halloween Hunt in Meinig. It was a little wet but over 100 kids still showed up. Lots of candy was given out and we had 6 winners (3 middle school and 3 high school kids found the golden eggs.)

John did the Trick or Treat Trail with help from our Building Monitor, Brooke. They had approximately 400 trick or treaters.

Chelsea worked on the November and December newsletter. We decided to do a 2 month run this month due to the upcoming holidays. The plus side of this is now we have a template built for any other months we might want to do this.

Parks & Recreation has also taken over the Meinig Gazebo/Amphitheater and Centennial Plaza rentals. It’s great to have all the city rental options run through the same department.

The RFP for the Community Campus was republished late October and will close mid November.

We hired our new Client Services Coordinator, Caroleana Smallwood. She comes to us with years of experience in Senior services and has made an amazing impact on the seniors already.

September was a good month here at the Community/Senior Center. Our fall classes started mid to late September. Some filled up very quickly, like Parkour. Yoga has been popular as well, especially with drop ins.

Corn Cross was another success. They had a total of 385 participants- ranging in age from 3 to over 70! There were lots of donations of prizes from local businesses like Otto’s Ski Shop, Next Adventure and Everfresh Fruit Co.

Mountain Storm Youth Basketball is back up and running for this winter. Registrations opened at the end of September and will run through the end of October.

The team has been busy gearing up for our Holiday Lights Event At Meinig in December. This will be a month long event which includes lighting up Meinig Park and will have 5 specialty events, most geared towards families but one will be adults only. Local organizations are helping by donating their time and resources. Carol has also collected sponsorships totaling $10,000 so far.

Chelsea worked on finalizing a till/reconciliation policy.

Marc put together a last minute trip to the Dahlia Festival that filled up within a few days of opening. The ladies had a great time picking Dahlias. The hiking trips were also a success and the group enjoyed the beautiful weather. After one hike the group dined at Chang’s Mongolian Grill and it was very well received.

Our amazing team did a large clean out and reorganization of our upstairs storage closets. It was a large undertaking but we’re glad to have it done.

Our Client Services Coordinator position has closed and job interviews are scheduled for mid/late October.

Upcoming events:

October 22nd- Halloween Hunt for teens

October 29th- Trick or Treat Trail