News From Sunnyside Environmental School (SES)

Happy New Year to the Sunnyside Neighborhood! Thank you for all of your support and for showing up for Sunnyside Environmental School (SES) in 2025. We hope you have enjoyed all of the wonderful things happening at our school. There are so many fun events and activities to look forward to in the new year. We hope to see you there!

2nd–5th Grade Original Musical

Every year Mo Philips teaches an after-school program in musical production. The students get together with Mo in December and brainstorm a plan for an original musical each year. Together, they decide on the setting, characters, and plot. Mo wraps it up into an amazing creation that will dazzle us all. In January, students in grades 2–5 will begin preparing and practicing for the show. Middle school students help with stage managing, set building, costume making, and tech. Stay tuned for more information including show dates and times. The performances will take place around the middle of March.

Dine Out at Laughing Planet

After the holiday mayhem, you may want a break from cooking but still opt for a healthy meal. You can do both at once and also raise money for SES by eating out at Laughing Planet on Belmont on January 28th. 10% of sales will be donated to SES. This quirky Mexican-inspired restaurant prides itself on using local ingredients and global flavors. So grab a burrito, smoothie, or a healthy bowl of your choice and enjoy.

Riparian Festival

Mark your calendar! The yearly beloved Riparian festival will be on January 22nd from 5:30–7:30 p.m. This is a Sunnyside tradition where students in grades 3–8 demonstrate everything they have learned throughout the year thus far through mixed media. For grades 3–5 you will see storylines, writing and artwork. For grades 6–8 you will find projects based on each class’s thematic year (forest, river, mountain or ocean). Their classrooms turn into a demonstration hall with installations, dioramas, art projects, essays, handmade original games, presentations, demonstrations, and much more. There will be a lasagne dinner ($5 donation requested) and sweet treats. The evening will end with an all-school singalong in the auditorium. This one is not to be missed!

Gala Auction

Preparations and planning for the yearly Gala Auction are beginning. Do you have a local business? Are you an artist? Do you want to donate an auction item for the Gala? If you do, please contact Jessica at [email protected]. Each year this event raises much-needed funds for the school. It is always a fun-filled event for

the community. I wonder what this year’s theme will be. I’ll let you all know once the cat is out of the bag.

Outdoor learning space updates

Stop by the playground and check out the developments on the outdoor learning space as it continues to evolve and come to life. In January the roof will be installed, the floor will be filled with gravel and the wood will be stained. SES middle school students are currently working on garden designs that will be built and installed in the spring. They are also working on bee and flower art because the theme is—you guessed it—BEES!

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

Correction Re: the death of Grey Wolfe

In the post announcing this Wednesday’s meeting re: traffic and pedestrian safety on our neighborhood corridors, we said that the Grey Wolfe was hit by a speeding car. At this time there is no evidence that the driver was speeding at the time of the crash or that speed was a factor in the crash. We have edited the original post to reflect this.

We apologize for any pain and anguish that this error has caused Grey’s family or the driver and their family.

December 10, 2025 SNA Special Community Meeting

Please join us on Wednesday Dec. 10th for a special Community Meeting about traffic safety on Sunnyside’s major traffic corridors. Last week, another pedestrian—beloved friend, mother, grandmother, and therapist Grey Wolfe—was tragically hit by a car and killed on Cesar Chavez Blvd. Grey was returning from her morning walk to Mount Tabor. We are calling a special community meeting to talk to Clay Veka, Vision Zero Program Manager with the City of Portland; a PBOT engineer; and representatives from both Councilor Koyama-Lane and Morillo’s offices. Please come with your questions and ideas for how we can improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians both along Cesar Chavez and 30th Ave. (And other main thoroughfares.)

The meeting, which will be held in the upstairs conference room at Southeast Uplift (3534 SE Main St.) and online via Zoom.

We’ll also be collecting clothing and gear for our annual SSP Winter Gear Drive—so bring winter coats, jackets, pants, sweaters, long johns, socks, gloves, sleeping bags, tents, and tarps.

The full agenda is available here.

Help Support the SNA Newsletter!

Readers: We still need your help! As you read in the November newsletter, printing costs for our newsletter have increased 33% overnight. Our newsletter is entirely volunteer-produced.  Fabulous local writers such as Erika Bolstad, Lydia Kiesling, Alex Frane, Mike Thelin, and Jordan Michelman have all lent their time to interviewing other Sunnyside neighbors, shining a light on the wonderful and interesting work that they do. We have a volunteer copyeditor and a volunteer designer. Our volunteer Treasurer helps us stay up-to-date with our sponsorship ads. Speaking of which, this humble project would not be possible without the local businesses that sponsor an ad. Thank you!

Thank you to those who have already given! Since last month, we’ve received $430 in donations. But we still have a long way to go to meet our goal. Do you like keeping up with all the projects the SNA Board is engaged in around in our neighborhood—projects such as the 37th Street Plaza, the repainting of the City Repair Sunflower on 33rd, and the Sunnyside Shower Project? If so, please consider supporting our newsletter. Even just $20 a year would help us keep going.

Without your donations we will have to either go to every-other-month, or possibly abandon the newsletter completely.

A reminder that donations can be made via our Give Lively link: tinyurl.com/395trwzw

or by mailing a check to SEUL 3534 SE Main St, Portland OR 97214, made out to The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association.

News from the President

Happy Holidays Sunnyside! I hope you are finding the joy in the season with your family and friends. This is such a wonderful time of year – the streets filled with colorful lights, the children anticipating winter break and perhaps a visit from Santa, and evenings full of cheer as we come together to celebrate.

Onto the news…

At our November General Meeting, I gave a briefing on disaster preparedness and helping our neighbors in times of great need. I’m not an expert, but unfortunately, Sunnyside doesn’t have an active Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) right now. Trained NET volunteers are not only involved in actual disaster response, but in helping neighbors prepare themselves by engaging with the community through meetings with groups like the SNA. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please visit portland.gov/pbem/neighborhood-emergency-teams to learn more and to get tips to help your family when disaster strikes.

We also talked about caring for our neighbors. As of this writing, the threat of federal troops being deployed in Portland has not gone away. If federal agents come to our neighborhood, there are a number of ways that you can help protect yourself and your community.

• Talk to your neighbors so that you can know who is at risk so that you can
help out.

• Carry a whistle to alert the community that something is happening.

• Take a cellphone video, from a distance.

• Know your rights so that if you encounter agents, you can protect yourself.
Visit aclu.org/know-your-rights to learn more.

• Please, DO NOT ENGAGE OR INTERFERE with federal agents. You
will only get yourself in trouble, rather than helping the community.

Another great way to support your neighbors through the cold winter months ahead is to participate in the Sunnyside Shower Project’s Winter Gear Drive! Through December 21st, the SSP will partner with local businesses to accept donations of adult winter clothing and cold weather gear at various stores throughout Sunnyside. For a complete list of participating businesses, please visit sunnysideshowerproject.org or their Instagram, @sunnysideshowerproject.

That’s it for now. We will see you in 2026 for the next General Meeting. Until then, have a wonderful holiday season. Here’s to a prosperous, safe and community-filled New Year for all of us in this neighborhood, city, country, and world.