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As winter settles into our area, AntFarm’s housing team is working with heightened awareness. The colder months bring additional stress for people already living close to the edge. Bills increase. Missed hours on a paycheck carry more weight. Transportation becomes more complicated. Firewood runs out sooner than expected. When maintaining basic necessities is already unstable, winter has a way of magnifying every vulnerability. Housing instability in smaller communities like

The holiday season is full of cheer, but for many, it includes harder times. The Sandy Community Action Center works to provide more opportunities for families and recently received a large donation to enact their goal. However, due to their limited space, they weren’t able to support the donation size, so the Sandy Historical Society provided them a solution: using their basement as storage.  The generous donation came from Clackamas County Disaster Relief after the Action C

Sandy Police Department hosted Shop With a Cop at the Sandy Fred Meyer on Saturday December 6th, where they shopped with 30 local kids. These kids are nominated by the Oregon Trail School District, local organizations, and SPD officers. Each kid is given a $125 budget to spend on gifts for themselves or loved ones. Officers escort the kids around the store, helping them shop. After the gifts are purchased, a group of volunteers wrap each gift.  Officer Quentin Carter: This is

Mt. Hood Community College men's basketball opens the season under the leadership of Head Coach Hany Daoud, who brings close to two decades of experience. He spent years running a Portland-area youth organization that served kindergarten through high school, and he coached overseas in Cairo with one of Egypt's premier clubs. After three seasons as Mt. Hood's associate head coach, he stepped into the lead role this year with a steady vision and a clear plan for growth. This ye

Place of birth: Bay Area, California How long have you lived in Sandy: 7.5 years  If you were not brought here as a child, what brought you to the area: The usual, love. Now we're married with a big family.  Profession: In-house Micro baker, Rui's Bake Shop  Other professions: Stay at home mom Favorites: Movie/and or Musical: You've Got Mail , and Hamilton , the musical Actress and Actor: I don't necessarily have a favorite actor, I do however have a favorite character

The Hull Foundation and Learning Center in Sandy, Oregon is a retreat center for the blind, a place where our guests with sight loss and blindness can go to a home away from home to relax, renew, and enjoy many activities matched to the season or subject of the retreat or seminar.  Our Winter Holiday Getaway started on December 8 th  and ended on December 12 th . Our guests are spending their time at the foundation playing holiday games, listening to Christmas music, and visi

For more than 100 years, the Sandy Fire District has been part of the fabric of this community. Many of us grew up seeing the red trucks roll out of the station, knowing our friends and neighbors were the ones answering the call. That sense of local pride hasn’t changed — but the demands on our fire district have. As our community has grown, costs have increased, emergencies have become more complex, and we’ve had to take a hard look at what it takes to keep the Sandy area sa

As 2025 comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year and share just a handful of the City of Sandy’s accomplishments. There were many successes throughout the year, as well as continued challenges that our community will work to overcome in the upcoming year. The year started off with the City Council adopting a new set of goals for the 2025-2027 biennium. Following the adoption of the goals, staff worked to develop a two-year budget to meet those goals

Before I climb into this month’s topic, an update to last month’s column on park/parking passes. A faithful reader reminded me that you can get a free day-use pass to any of the several Clackamas County Parks, including Barlow Wayside, through our local public library system. To reserve, you’ll need a library card and access to the library web site, www.ci.sandy.or.us/library (click on Cultural Pass Express). Note that your pass must be printed out and displayed on your vehi

As children awaited the arrival of Santa Claus, Mount Hood ski resorts and hydrologists alike were hoping and waiting for the arrival of the next big winter storm.  As of Dec. 15, Timberline Lodge, Meadows and SkiBowl were all still waiting for enough snow to open, and USDA supervisory hydrologist Matt Warbritton and his team were likewise looking for some lower temperatures and wintery precipitation to hit the Hood, Sandy, Lower Deschutes region (and other parts of the state

If you’ve ever attended a Rotary Club meeting, you’ve likely noticed that  no matter where in the world it takes place, it ends the same way: with four simple questions. These questions form what Rotarians call The Four-Way Test, and they’ve guided the organization’s members for more than 80 years. At first glance, the Test may seem like a brief checklist, something simple enough to memorize in a minute. But in practice, it’s far more than that. These four questions represent

The Sandy Area Chamber board will be at the annual meeting to mingle with members. Hosting an informative annual meeting might be a requirement for the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce, but Executive Director Khrys Jones and her board intend to also make the 2026 event as fun as possible.  From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Chamber welcomes all members and prospective members to join the board for lunch, a presentation on the Chamber’s 2025 successes and 2026 pla

*sponsored by MAECO When a lot of people think of Sandy Community Action Center, they think of the woman at the helm: Kirsten Pitzer. Which makes sense, since she’s held the executive director position for the better part of a decade, succeeding Dawn Loomis about 8.5 years ago. Pitzer had a career in education before coming to the Center, and also volunteered in the food pantry for three years before the board encouraged her to apply for the leadership position.  “I liked the

In November, I was honored to be appointed to represent House District 51 in the Oregon Legislature, filling the seat left vacant by former Representative Christine Drazan. As a lifelong Oregonian with deep roots in this district, it’s been a privilege to step into this role and serve the people of Sandy, Estacada, Canby, and the unincorporated communities that make Clackamas County so special. Since being sworn in, I’ve hit the ground running. I’ve been visiting with constit

When Mike Hatley founded MAECO (the Mike, Amy and Eileen Company of Oregon) in 1996, he had a vision of using his years of experience and connections in manufacturing to serve small and medium sized businesses in need of an affordable source for parts.  While MAECO specializes in sourcing manufacturers for agricultural and industrial components, like pressure gauges, they can manufacture anything.  Now 30 years later, Hatley's daughter — Amy Hatley-Hardesty — keeps his legacy

Whether you love the thrill of a brisk morning run, the warmth of holiday cheer, or the buzz of community action, our January 2026 lineup has something special for everyone.  Sandy’s Jingle Jog – Saturday, January 3rd, 2026 | 9:00–11:30 AM Kick off the New Year with a dash of cheer at Sandy's newest Winterfest event, Jingle Jog 2026! Date: Saturday, January 3rdStart: 9:00 AMOut by: 11:30 AMLocation: Abundant Life Church Parking Lot → 5k out-and-back trail walk/run on the Tick