Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/more/charity/page/12/)
Join a Watertown New Year’s Day tradition by skating at John A. Ryan Arena and help the Watertown Food Pantry. The New Year’s Day Family Skate will be from 2-4 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2020. The event is organized by the Venezia family, and donations will be collected to support the Watertown Food Pantry. Skate rentals will be free that day.
Watertown Savings Bank customers can help their favorite non-profit receive $15,000 in honor of its 150th anniversary, but the deadline to vote is approaching. The bank will give away $150,000, and the top vote getter receives $15,000. Votes for the Customer Choice Awards must be cast by Dec. 31, 2019. The bank sent out the following information:
Watertown Savings Bank (WSB) President and CEO Brett Dean is pleased to announce that $150,000 will be distributed among local non-profits in the Bank’s 24th Annual Customer Choice Awards.
Tufts Health Plan Foundation today announced nine new community investments totaling $972,000 and demonstrating the Foundation’s commitment to policies and practices that support healthy aging. These investments are in addition to $3.9 million in grants announced earlier this year. “The Foundation is proud to support community efforts to be vibrant, healthy and equitable,” said Tom Croswell, Tufts Health Plan president and CEO and a member of the Foundation’s board of directors. “Advocating for public policy change is essential to achieving social change at scale.”
Tufts Health Plan Foundation is the only regional funder exclusively focused on healthy aging. The new grants support engagement of older people as advocates on critical policy work to include addressing gaps in food and health care access, transportation and community safety.
The following announcement was provided by the Marshall Home Fund:
The Marshall Home Fund recently received the final payment from the Henry H. Drew Trust. This trust was originally written in 1930. Henry H. Drew was a Watertown resident. The 1930 Watertown directory lists him as a “gold refiner.” His will stated that any funds remaining in his estate after the death of his heirs was to be divided between the Watertown Home for Old Folks, now known as The Marshall Home Fund, and the Cambridge Home for the Aged, now known as Neville Place. This past year the managers of the remaining funds began a series of payments to the two named entities. The total amount received from the trust to each was $90,470.14, a truly outstanding gift thanks to the thoughtfully drawn estate of Mr. Drew.
Perhaps Mr. Drew was grateful to the services provided to loved ones at each of the named facilities.
The Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) is pleased to announce the awarding of the Fall 2019 Healthy Watertown Grants. A total of $14,500 will be distributed in support of organizations that work to create new or existing programs to keep our community healthy.
Five of this year’s grantees address the growing challenge of food insecurity among all ages within our community. These include support of preschoolers and their families with Communities United: Cooking with Kids and Families Program, helping the Watertown Boys and Girls Club provide Healthy Lunch and Snacks during School Vacations, a Summer Supper Club for Seniors and funds for the SNAP Match Program at the Watertown Farmers Market.
Grantees include:
Watertown Police Free Community Narcan Program
Communities United: Cooking with Kids and Families
Boys and Girls Club – School Vacation Healthy Lunch and Snack Program
Watertown for All Ages: Travel Resources for Older Residents
Watertown Council on Aging: Summer Supper Club for Seniors
Watertown Council on Aging: Food Pantry New Shelving
Zen Art II For Mind-Body Wellness for Seniors
Watertown Farmers Market SNAP Match Program
W.A.T.E.R Erase the Stigma: Recovery is Possible (Education) Event
For questions, please contact Jan Singer at jan.singer@watertownfoundation.org.
The Watertown Community Foundation works to build and sustain a vibrant, close-knit community in Watertown – now, and for future generations. To accomplish this, WCF raises funds from people and partner institutions, awards grants to non-profits and community projects, and builds networks of donors, grantees, program participants and stakeholders.
Since its inception in 2003, WCF has awarded over $1,000,000 in grants to programs and organizations serving Watertown.
WCF Board of Directors
David Siegel and Darshna Varia, Co-Presidents; Robert Airasian; Albrik Avanessian; Emily Barclay; Lauren Coughlin Unsworth; Eleanor Donato; William B. Ford; Antonia O’Hara; Maria Panaggio-Phillips; Ashley Morris; Mary Ann Mulligan; Tony Paolillo; Lora Sabin; Robert Shay; Elaina Themistos; and Kathryn White.
Tuesday, Dec. 3 is Giving Tuesday, and if you would like to give locally, here are a few opportunities. The following came from the donation information provided by these Watertown-based groups:
Watertown Community Foundation
There is no better way to see the true impact of your donation than to give where you live. We hope you’ll think of the Watertown Community Foundation on #GivingTuesday. Make a local impact every single day of the year.
Den leader Stephen Lipscomb works with Bear Scouts from Pack 30 to purchase $200 in shampoo and soap for clients of the Watertown Food Pantry. The following piece was provided by Watertown Boy Scout Troop 30 and Cub Scout Pack 30:
In what may be the largest-ever one-day event to benefit the Watertown Food Pantry, scouts on Saturday collected $10,000 worth of food at the Watertown Street Stop & Shop.
That’s twice what was collected last year in the annual event called Scouting for Food. “I’m overwhelmed by the effort of all the boys and girls in the scouts,” said Kathleen Cunningham, Watertown Food Pantry Coordinator. “It’s amazing that all those parents and leaders make this work possible.”
Pack 30, with scouts age 5-10, and Troop 30, with scouts age 10-17, come together every year to collect donations for the Watertown Food Pantry. Last year, 200 bags of groceries were collected from Stop & Shop customers at 171 Watertown Street. The this year, the response from Stop & Shop customers was so great, scouts needed to change how they collect goods.
The following announcement was provided by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation:
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation has announced that three Watertown non-profit organizations were awarded a total of $1,500 from the Foundation’s Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant program. The organizations receiving funds are:
Alzheimer Association ($500)Armenian Library and Museum of America ($500)Families First Parenting Program, Inc. ($500)
To commemorate those Harvard Pilgrim members who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, Harvard Pilgrim and the Foundation created the Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant program. This program allows each Harvard Pilgrim employee to award a $500 grant, completely funded by the Foundation, to the local charity of his or her choice each calendar year. Since this community grants program began in 2002, Harvard Pilgrim employees have directed more than $6.5 million to thousands of organizations throughout Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.