A recent article in The Bulletin made it sound like Awbrey Glen was a terrible place to live.

I will say what a pleasure it is to live in Awbrey Glen and belong to Awbrey Glen Golf Club. There is a spirit of cooperation between the two entities that is not always found in gated communities.

Examples: The Glen Gives, our own nonprofit organization, started in 2004, has raised close to $400,000 to help hundreds of local families with a one-time assistance to allow them to get their lives back on track. One hundred percent of monies raised assist local families. All overhead is contributed by our committee members. New this year was a yard sale that required huge cooperation between the golf club and the residents of Awbrey Glen. Over $11,000 was raised that day.

For more than four years, the Awbrey Glen community, including the golf club, has been working on fire issues with the fire department and the Oregon Department of Forestry. Home and lot owners were encouraged to remove combustible vegetation from their properties. Tons were removed this spring. This year, we applied for and received a “firewise community” designation from Firewise Communities/USA. Because of this, we received a two-year grant from Deschutes County so we could thin our ever-growing pines and clean up the north and northwest parts of Awbrey Glen community, including the golf course.

I am proud to live in this caring community.

Sonya McLaughlin

Bend