Thank You, SSP Community!

We are still riding the wave of love and support from the Wild Heart: Sunnyside Shower Project Fundraiser held on June 18th — and I am deeply, endlessly grateful.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of this community, we were able to raise nearly $6,000. That’s not just a number — it’s a transformative gift that will have a lasting impact on our ability to provide consistency in the gear, supplies, and support we offer to our most vulnerable neighbors. In a world that so often feels unpredictable and unstable, consistency is a big deal. It’s comfort. It’s dignity. It’s care.

This fundraiser also makes it possible for us to start outfitting our office — turning it from a bare-bones room into a warm, welcoming space where people can feel safe, seen, and respected. Vulnerability deserves softness, and now we can begin to create that environment.

To the 30+ artists and businesses who generously contributed to our silent auction and raffle – this simply would not have been possible without you. Your creativity, your energy, and your belief in this mission lifted this fundraiser beyond our hopes.

To everyone who came, shared, donated, or cheered us on — thank you. Your support is not only felt, it is deeply valued!

Getting to Know Your Neighbors

Q&A with Denis Behrens, our new Treasurer!

Dennis Behrens was born in Los Angeles but spent his childhood in the Portland Metro area. He married his high school sweetheart, Phyllis Gersetenfeld, and they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska so she could attend grad school at the University of Nebraska. Under the pen name Kim Fielding, she writes best-selling fantasy and romance novels, novellas, and short stories. After living in Turlock, California for 31 years, the couple and their daughter, Quinn, moved back to Portland last summer, settling in Sunnyside. Behrens, a long-time accountant, recently joined the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association Board as our Treasurer. 

What’s the feeling of Portland now?

Dennis: A lot better. It seemed grittier when we left in 1989. A lot of gang violence. I worked for Portland Bottling Company delivering 7Up all over the city—from Gresham to Forest Grove. It’s all gentrified now. There are five-story apartment buildings and lots of restaurants and people out.

Do you feel like part of why it’s better is because there’s new money here?

Dennis: That’s part of it, sure. But I always felt like, certainly with my mom and my family, it seemed like there were good people here trying to make things better. It just took 36 years. I think there seems to be a lot more people in tune with the community. There seems to be a lot of sole proprietors, so tons of small mom and pop shops. I hope that means that they care more about the community they live in.

Would you say that small businesses are the backbone of the communal nature of the city?

Dennis: I think so. Depending on what neighborhood you’re in, each neighborhood has its own special vibe and quirks that make it unique and enjoyable.

Are you a businessman?

Dennis: I have a business degree. My concentration was finance and accounting.

And now, you’re taking those accounting skills and applying them to the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association! What is it you enjoy about accounting?

Dennis: It makes sense. It’s all logical. You know, there’s a box for everything. So everything goes where it’s supposed to go. Numbers don’t lie.

Would you say that accounting is your passion?

Dennis: Yes. A lot of people find the numbers very dry and boring, but I always find a story in the numbers. I’ll give you an example. I was a senior accountant at a fire station for five years. We found out that the fire guys were turning the air conditioning down to around 65 degrees, including when they were out on runs and nobody was in the firehouse. That spiked our electricity costs. That was kind of funny. The chief was not happy. What we did was put in Spark thermostats that controlled the temperature at a central location. The accounting tells a story.

What story are you hoping to tell with Sunnyside?

Dennis: I’m hoping that we can foster cooperation in the community. I’m hoping that the story here is a positive one that makes Sunnyside attractive to visitors and businesses alike, and that it fosters a good community.

Where does this desire to foster a good community come from?

Dennis: I always thought it was important to reach out, make friends, and be a part of something bigger than just yourself. We were in California raising kids in a very suburban environment, and it was really all about the kids. You’re fostering relationships with your kids’ friends, their parents, trying to make sure they develop well in school and do extracurricular activities and stuff like that. There’s a void now that my youngest has graduated college.

Through wanting what’s best for your family, you’ve learned that branching out and creating a community has been an invaluable resource. What are you discovering so far about the Sunnyside community?

Dennis: I love the neighborhood. When we were looking for a house, we felt the vibe of this area fit us the best. It’s eclectic cool. Like the Bagdad Theater—this beautiful historic building that they’ve obviously restored. And then all of the little restaurants, coffee shops, bars—there’s something fun and different in each one. Just the sheer volume of restaurants; you can eat out some place different every night! That’s the eclectic part.

Now that you’re part of the Sunnyside Board, are there any projects that you’re hoping to dip your toe in?

Dennis: There’s a building at 30th and Stark [owned by Laurelhurst Village]—the one that has been boarded up for 10 years. That could be an interesting project. Maybe we could work with the city and do something with it. 

Would you say that of the different issues affecting the community, you’re most interested in land use?

Dennis: I’ve always had a passion for real estate. My mom had rentals; she owned a house at 37th and Belmont. This was when I was living here as a child, and I would help her with the rentals. I think that sparked my love for real estate.

What are some potential things we could do with neglected real estate?

Dennis: I’m sure there’s opportunities to do low-income rentals if you partner with the city. But just improving a building brings up the values for everybody in the neighborhood. If you have a giant eyesore at the corner, that brings down everybody’s real estate values. So every time you can improve a particular parcel, you are helping elevate everybody in the neighborhood.

What’s your impression of being on the Sunnyside Board so far?

Dennis: What I expected – a group of passionate people who live in the neighborhood, who want to do fun things and promote the neighborhood.

Circling back to how you originally found your community values, you found that in promoting the well-being of your family, you could promote the well-being of the world around you?

Dennis: Yeah. My little way to contribute is to start at home and try to make connections with people. I like to think that it’s an opportunity for me to contribute something back to the community I live in.

How do we spread that? The desire to give back to the community.

Dennis: Well, I think it’s like, pay it forward. If you can do a good deed for somebody, then hopefully they can take that and do a good deed for somebody else, and hopefully, it snowballs.

Have you been the recipient of many good deeds?

Dennis: Yes, I’ve been really lucky to have a really good support structure from my family, and especially my mom. As a single mom, it’s tough to raise a kid all alone in Portland, and she was able to help me with college costs and things like that.

So in being lucky, you now want to be other people’s luck.

Dennis: Absolutely. I always feel like if you can put positive energy out into the world that it will help create more positive energy.

News From Sunnyside Environmental School (SES)

Hello neighbors!

Kids are out of school, which means our campus is a city park full-time until the fall semester begins. Come play on our play structure, start a pickup game of soccer with our new soccer goals, or sit at our picnic tables. Feel free to admire our garden and have a taste of anything ripe you see growing.

SES has no events planned until August so I thought I’d share a little information about one of the things that makes our school stand out from the others: our middle school marine biology program.

The middle school experience for SES’s sixth, seventh, and eighth graders is unlike that of any other public school student’s in the district. We use a thematic curriculum for all grades; in middle school the themes are mountain, forest, river, and ocean. In the fall and spring, all middle schoolers spend their Thursdays on field trips in the community to places that correspond with the theme they are studying. This culminates in each grade taking a week-long, overnight marine biology excursion in May, a true capstone experience for each middle school year.

Each middle school class goes to a different location. In sixth grade, students spend three days in Newport, Oregon. They stay in yurts at South Beach State Park, dissect squid, take a crabbing boat into Yaquina Bay, and visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Seventh graders spend a week at Olympic National Park in Washington. They attend NatureBridge camp and spend a week immersed in river ecology, hiking, and canoeing on Lake Crescent.

Eighth graders spend a week at the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California, southwest of Los Angeles. Here they kayak and snorkel in the ocean, hike, and complete community service projects.

In addition to being amazing educational experiences, these middle school trips help our students bond, learn about themselves and one another, and see kids they’ve been in class with for years in a new light. These trips contribute to making SES the wonderful community it is, and provide the support middle schoolers need as they slowly transition from elementary to high school.

Finally, all of our middle school students go on these marine biology trips regardless of their ability to pay. While parents are asked to make a financial contribution, the school community raises money for those who are unable to do so through the PTSA Go Fund. Many of the fundraisers you have seen advertised in this column support the PTSA Go Fund, so for anyone who has contributed, thank you for helping make these amazing trips accessible to all our students, regardless of their family’s financial situation.

Have questions about SES? Email [email protected] and maybe I’ll answer them in a future column!

Community Fundraiser for Sunnyside Shower Project

The Sunnyside Shower Project (SSP), a grassroots mutual aid initiative serving our unhoused neighbors in Southeast Portland, invites the community to WILD HEART: a benefit event to raise crucial funds for their free shower and hygiene services. Suggested donation at the door is $10 but no one turned away. $1 from the evening’s featured cocktail will be donated to SSP.

The event will take place on Wednesday, June 18th from 6–9 p.m. at Foxtrot PDX (3244 SE Belmont St), and will feature: a live DJ, featuring music by Tori Amos, Stevie Nicks, and Kate Bush and a raffle/silent auction with locally donated goods, gift cards & experiences.

In-kind donations for the raffle and auction are still being accepted. Donors will be recognized on-site and via the organization’s social media channels. Businesses and individuals can reach out to Lindsay at [email protected].

The SSP is a SNA volunteer-based effort operating under the fiscal sponsorship of Southeast Uplift, a registered 501(c)(3). Their weekly shower events provide clean, safe, and compassionate care to hundreds of people each year. Join us for a magical night in honor of music, resilience, and radical care.

News From Sunnyside Environmental School (SES)

Thank you to everyone who came to our annual Spring Gala! It was amazing to see so many people enjoying themselves and supporting our school community.

Summer Is Almost Here!

We are rapidly wrapping up the school year. Our last day of school is Thursday, June 12. 

Bike Bus is going strong and students are biking to school every Friday. Keep an eye out for our bikers!

We have been enjoying speeches from our amazing eighth graders. At the end of every year, each of our departing eighth graders gives a speech that feels authentic to their identity and to who they are in the world. These speeches are funny, thoughtful, inspirational, and an absolute delight to experience. Eighth graders – we will miss you!

SES During Summer Months

Our school yard becomes a public park whenever school is not in session, so please feel free to come by and enjoy the play structure, soccer goals, baseball diamond, basketball hoops, and picnic tables anytime this summer.

You are also welcome to get a snack from our lovely garden during the summer months. Our garden is Teacher Nathan’s classroom during the school year, and we ask that neighbors do not pick from it until after June 12. However, from June 13 until August 26, please feel free to come see what we have growing and sample anything
that seems ripe and appealing. Please just be sure not to trample any plants and to leave plenty for everyone to share.

Space Needed for Evening PTSA Meetings

The SES PTSA is going to start holding a weekday evening meeting every other month, and they are looking for a venue. Do you have a good meeting place you would be willing to share with us? If so, please contact [email protected].

Our Library Teacher is an Author!

Please join us in celebrating Gillian Wynne Grimm, who just published her first book, The Tail of Morris. Gillian helps our students learn about libraries, browse for books, and runs SES’s Oregon Battle of the Books competition. Now she is a published author and illustrator as well! The Tail of Morris is best for elementary school kids and is about a serious cat whose tail does not behave, no matter what! Grab a copy today!

Have questions about SES? Email [email protected] and maybe I’ll answer them in a future column!