WWII Tuskegee Airman speaks to students Click to enlarge

By Shannon L Cheesman, KATU.com: Nov 9, 2011 View original story Veterans filled the halls of Reynolds High School on Wednesday to share their experiences with students and hopefully leave an indelible impression of what Veterans Day is all about.

Veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, Iraq and Afghanistan were invited to spend some time with students for 'Living History Day.'

Some of the veterans visited classrooms to talk about their lives in the military and others gave formal presentations inside the school's auditorium or gym.

Neighborhood Connections is a publication from the City of Gresham
Communications & Community Outreach offering City of Gresham news, Public Safety information, Community Activities & Events, Training & Workshops, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.

Inside this Issue

• Crime Reports
• National Test of the Emergency Alert System
  
• Downtown Plan Review Seeking Public Input
• New Info on the Code Compliance Webpages
• Neighborhood Survey on Priority Enforcement
  
• Code Enforcement Online Tracking Tool
• GreshamOregon.gov Gets Personal
• Take Our Roll Cart Survey
• Check Out the Draft Annual Stormwater Report
• Thinking Ahead: Keep Those Drains Clear
• Weed Watcher Workshop: November 15
• Prepare Your Yard for Winter—Free Healthy Home
  and Garden Consultation
• Water, Energy, and Money: Save Resources at Home
• Gresham Hosts PGE Energy Seminar
• Beyond the Battlefield
• Fall Chamber Expo
• “Powerful Tools For Caregivers” Workshop Held
  in Honor of National Caregivers Month
• Visit Gresham’s Scariest Haunted Morgue (Eeeeekkk!)
• Free Summer Activities at the Library

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Gresham Neighborhoods listing

For more information, visit the Neighborhood Associations page at GreshamOregon.gov or contact Cathy Harrington at 503-618-2482, or email Cathy.Harrington@GreshamOregon.gov.

SnowCap volunteers prepare food boxes

Please, share your harvest SnowCap Community Charities 17805 SE Stark St (behind Rockwood United Methodist) Donate: Weekdays, 9AM-3PM

Neighbors helping neighbors
SnowCap faces serious reductions in the food available to feed our neighbors in need. It’s a long story, but essentially the commodities donated by the federal government to the state and from the state to the Oregon Food Bank (OFB) and then to SnowCap have been cut by almost 50%. These commodities have a cash value of $235,000 so SnowCap can’t just buy enough food to make up for this loss. One way to mitigate the suffering this will create for our low income neighbors it to ask everyone to share the harvest from their gardens. Tell your friends. Share this request with everyone.

How to donate
If you have vegetables that you’d like to share, please bring them to 17788 SE Pine St on weekdays between 9AM & 3PM. Get Map!

Bringing it home
Fact: The 2011 State of Oregon school report cards, published on the Oregonian newspaper website, showed Wilkes Elementary School served free or reduced price lunches to 85.9% of the schools 405 students last year. Enrollment at Wilkes Elementary School is almost entirely made-up of children who reside in the Wilkes East Neighborhood.

Neighborhood Connections is a publication from the City of Gresham
Communications & Community Outreach offering City of Gresham news, Public Safety information, Community Activities & Events, Training & Workshops, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.

Inside this Issue

• Crime Reports
  
• National Preparedness Month
• “Gresham is…” Deadline Extended to September 30
  
• Do Your Surroundings Promote Healthy Eating and Active Living?
• September Bike-to-Work Commute Activities
• Transportation Fair and Bike Rodeo
• Save Energy, Water, and Money
• Healthy Stream Program Fall Deadlines Approaching, Don’t Miss Free Services
• Gresham Hosts PGE Energy Seminars
• How Can Transportation and Getting Around be Improved in East County?
• Gresham-Fairview Trail Detour
• Chamber Expo
• Symphonic Safari

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Gresham Neighborhoods listing

For more information, visit the Neighborhood Associations page at GreshamOregon.gov or contact Cathy Harrington at 503-618-2482, or email Cathy.Harrington@GreshamOregon.gov.

Nelson Park, Gresham OR

Nadaka Nature Park, Garden Project Petition of Community Support Show your support to seek grant funding to implement the Nelson Neighborhood Park master plan. When fully implemented the park will include community gardens, an orchard, picnic tables, a nature-based play area, and a walking loop that will connect it to Nadaka Nature Park. Sign the petition (below)

In 2009 Wilkes East Neighborhood Association and Friends of Nadaka successfully obtained a Metro Nature in Neighborhoods Capital Grant, a grant from the East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and a donation from the Nelson Family Trust to purchase the 2.0 arce "Nelson Property" for use as a neighborhood park. This additional land, with its tall trees and open grassy area is now part of Nadaka Nature Park.

More graffiti trouble at Glen East.

Oh no, not again This past week has seen another increase in gang graffiti near 162nd & NE Glisan, and north along NE 162nd Ave in the southwest corner of the neighborhood -- an area of West Gresham that has been plagued for some time by crime and graffiti.

The latest round of graffiti begin to appear last weekend near 164nd & NE Glisan; at the Glen East apartments, and on the traffic controller in front of Walgreens at the nearby intersection. Two large 'scribbles' (above, below), one on each apartment building, were found Sunday morning. On one building, the scrawl was especially disturbing as it included the tag "RIP MOCO". By Monday evening the graffiti on both buildings had been painted over, muting the message.

Later in the week, north along NE 162nd Av between Holliday & Wasco, neighbors who have been victims of several previous graffiti strikes woke Thursday morning to find themselves once again the victim, with new gang tags on their property.

Neighborhood Connections is a publication from the City of Gresham
Communications & Community Outreach offering City of Gresham news, Public Safety information, Community Activities & Events, Training & Workshops, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.

Inside this Issue

• Free CPR / AED Training: Sep 10
• Free Summer Activities at the Library
• Crime Prevention Tips/Trends for August
• Grab your Camera and Complete the Sentence “Gresham Is…”
• Cute vs. Brute: Saying 'So Long' To Peter Pothole
• Help Prevent Costly Crimes to City Infrastructure
• Rain Garden Workshop: Aug 27
• Rain Garden Bike Tour: Sep 10
• September Weather’s Great for Bike Riding: Sep 10/11
• Deadlines for: Free Downspout Disconnection: Aug 30; $200 Rain Garden Grants: Sep 30
• There’s Still Time to Learn ‘How to Ride Transit’: Sep 29/Oct 27
• Gresham Hosts PGE Energy Seminars
• Gresham Seeks Input on How to Permit Renewable Energy: Sep 15
• Institutional Master Plans & Urban Forestry Management Plans: Sep 7
• Have you Taken the Travel Survey yet?: Thru Sep
• Make a Difference in a Girls’ Life
• College Restart Event at Mt. Hood Community College
• Recruiting Seniors for the Adopt a Grandparent Program
• Patriots Day Celebration: Sep 11
• Multnomah County RSVP
• Project Linkage
• Mentor and Tutor Local Elementary School Students

Keep up with what’s Happening in your City!

Facebook - Read more
Twitter - Read more
Subscribe to City media releases - Read more

Gresham Neighborhoods listing

For more information, visit the Neighborhood Associations page at GreshamOregon.gov or contact Cathy Harrington at 503-618-2482, or email Cathy.Harrington@GreshamOregon.gov.

Neighborhood Connections is a publication from the City of Gresham
Communications & Community Outreach offering City of Gresham news, Public Safety information, Community Activities & Events, Training & Workshops, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.

Inside this Issue

• Gresham is Paving the Way for Better Streets
• Don’t Let Potholes Become a Neighborhood Nuisance
• Crime Reports
• Free Tree Giveaway, Native Plants and Natural Gardening Consultations
• The “Back to School Essay Contest” Begins Soon!
• Urban Forestry Management Plan – Council Adoption on July 19
• Got Mussels? July 16 and August 6
• Hollybrook Park Summer Festival July 22
• Bicycle Helmets on Sale July 22
• You’re Invited: Transportation Community Forum July 26
• How to Ride Transit July 28
• Music Mondays at the Center for the Arts Plaza
• Significant Tree Walk August 17
• How do you Get Around Gresham and the East Metro Area?
• Shop Your Local GREAT Businesses
• Detour on Gresham-Fairview Trail
• Home Resource Efficiency and Toilet Rebates
• Healthy Kids Fair
• Block Party Time
• Free Summer Activities at the Library
• Multnomah County RSVP
• Project Linkage
• Mentor and Tutor Local Elementary School Students

Keep up with what’s Happening in your City!

Facebook - Read more
Twitter - Read more
Subscribe to City media releases - Read more

Gresham Neighborhoods listing

For more information, visit the Neighborhood Associations page at GreshamOregon.gov or contact Cathy Harrington at 503-618-2482, or email Cathy.Harrington@GreshamOregon.gov.

Neighbors celebrate the Nelson addition to Nadaka Nature Park. Click to enlarge

Rain didn't dampen the spirits of community festival guests Celebrating the Nelson addition On June 18th, 2011, the Wilkes East Neighborhood held a community festival at Nadaka Nature Park to celebrate the Nelson property addition which was purchased with local grants.

The new addition which added 2 acres to this wonderful nature park has allowed the opening of the south gate -- improving accessibility to all of our neighbors and visitors as well as making room for the master plan that will include community gardens and more.

Rain is our sunshine
June 18th was a very wet cloudy day, typical of Oregon spring weather. Despite the rain, 58 volunteers with SOLV arrived at 9AM at Nadaka Nature Park for a park clean-up event. Participants removed invasive plant species as well as trash and debris. Volunteers came from HB LEE Middle school, SUN Community Schools as well as GGAPP Peer group and Catholic Charities.

The festival started at 12 noon and lasted until 3PM. Constant rain didn't dampen the spirits of the several hundred guests that attended the festival.

Freshwater mussel

Volunteer Opportunity Last year the Johnson Creek Watershed Council partnered with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to conduct surveys for native freshwater mussels in Johnson Creek — with your help, we want to continue this work.

Spots are filling up quickly so RSVP today! All ages welcome. Saturday, July 16* — Gresham Woods Saturday, August 6th — Ambleside Saturday, September 24 — Bundy Reserve Time: 10:00am-1:30pm

Searching for freshwater mussels

Volunteers will learn about the biology and ecology of native freshwater mussels, and the many ways in which these animals benefit water quality and fish habitat. Native mussels are sensitive to pollution and disturbance, so exploring mussel distribution and the age structure of mussel beds provides insight on the biological conditions of Johnson Creek. Native Western pearlshell mussels were found in both stream reaches surveyed in the upper watershed, and native floaters were present in the lower watershed.

The event represents a unique opportunity for the general public to assist with field research