Around Town

Watertown Boys & Girls Club Seeks Donations, Sponsors for Annual Auction

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The Watertown Boys & Girls Club will host its annual auction to raise money for its programs that serve Watertown’s youth. Organizers are selling tickets, and also are seeking donations and sponsors. The Boys and Girls Club sent out the following information:

For more than 40 years, the Watertown Boys & Girls Club has provided the youth of our community with safe and fun afterschool and summer programming. As we strive to widen and deepen our impact in the community, your support is critical to our success. The Annual Spring Auction, to be held on Thursday, May 5, 2016 at the Oakley Country Club, helps raise crucial funds to support our mission, “to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.”

There are a number of ways to support our work through this event.

Charity

Mount Auburn Hospital Hosts Best Selling Authors to Benefit Breast Center

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Mount Auburn Hospital presents Pink Pages, an evening featuring renowned author Alice Hoffman to benefit the hospital’s Hoffman Breast Center on Monday, May 16, 2016 beginning at 6 p.m. at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge. The event will feature readings and anecdotes from popular best-selling authors Jodi Picoult, Anita Diamant, Lisa Genova, Lily King, Ann Leary, and Elizabeth Strout.Emmy Award-winning arts and entertainment critic, advocate, motivational speaker, and cancer crusader Joyce Kulhawik will serve as the evening’s emcee. A bit about the evening’s participants:

Alice Hoffman has been called “America’s literary heir to the Brothers Grimm” and her luminous and remarkable “fables of the everyday” have enchanted readers since the publication of her first novel, Property Of, in 1977. Her novel, Dovekeepers, spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was named one of the top books of 2011 by countless news and literary publications. It has been called “…a major contribution to twenty-first century literature” and in 2015 was adapted as a television miniseries. She has written 39 books including Practical Magic and Aquamarine, both of which were made into major motion pictures, as well as, Oprah Book Club selection Here on Earth.

Charity

High Ranking State Official to Speak at Forum to End Homelessness

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The Tri Community Coalition to End Homelessness will feature Chrystal Kornegay, Undersecretary, Department of Housing & Community Development, at their event, “Housing the Homeless: From Crisis to Shelter to Home.” The Tri Community Coalition sent out the following information:

With over 20 years’ experience in community development, Chrystal became the Baker Polito Administration’s Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development in January 2015. In her role as Undersecretary, Chrystal leads State government in promoting safe, decent affordable housing opportunities, economic vitality of communities and sound municipal management. Chrystal is a keystone in Massachusetts’ efforts to prevent homelessness, shelter those for whom homelessness is unavoidable, and rapidly re-house the homeless in stable, permanent housing. The Forum also includes:

Panelists from agencies and coalitions in Belmont, Watertown and Waltham that focus on homelessness and affordable housing
Testimonials from the formerly homeless
State legislators from all three communities
Exhibits and representatives from homelessness prevention and service programs and housing organizations

The event will be held on Sunday, April 24, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at St.

Charity

Find Out About This Year’s Walk For Hunger at the Library

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The Walk for Hunger will host a “Walk Talk” at the Watertown Free Public Library to let people know about some of the changes to the annual fundraising walk for Project Bread. The event in Watertown is one in a series of Walk Talks. Members of the Project Bread staff will be there to help you plan you day, grow your team and learn more fundraising strategies, according to the announcement from the Walk for Hunger

There will also be a  detailed preview of the new Walk route, and you can register and/or pick-up Walk materials. The Walk Talk in Watertown will be held Friday, April 1 from 5-6:45 p.m. at the Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room of the library, located at 123 Main St. Watertown.

Charity

Concert Featuring Sally Rogers, Howie Bursen Benefits Watertown Group

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Nationally known singer-songwriters Sally Rogers and Howie Bursen will appear in concert Saturday, April 2 at 8 p.m. The concert is sponsored jointly by First Parish Watertown Unitarian-Universalist and the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston. All profits will benefit the Helen Robinson Wright Charitable Fund, which provides Watertown residents with short-term aid in emergency situations. Concert admission is $25, with tickets on sale at the door or online at BrownPaperTickets.com. Sale of light refreshments will also benefit the Wright Fund. The location is First Parish Watertown, 35 Church St.

Charity

Watertown Community Foundation Accepting Applications for Spring Grants

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The Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) announces two Spring 2016 grant programs to support local nonprofits, programs and projects. Approximately $70,000 will be distributed. One: WCF’s Educational Program will award grants designed to help organizations that serve Watertown develop new or continue existing programs with an educational focus, broadly defined. Two: WCF’s Institutional Support is designed to help institutions central to the Watertown community by providing funds to maintain critical programming and retain paid staff. Grants under this program impose neither restrictions on the use of funds nor any program requirements.

Charity

Coast to Coast Relay to Help Families, Children Coming Through Watertown

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A coast-to-coast relay raising money for a variety of causes that help the lives of families and children will be coming through Watertown. Former Watertown Resident Becky Solo will organize the leg of the United Relay for America from Watertown to Boston on Thursday, June 2. The race raises money for organizations that advocate for youth education, improving healthcare, fighting hunger, ending gender discrimination, or providing safe homes for orphans. See a list of causes here. During the United Relay for America, which starts on the West Coast on April 27 and ends on June 4 in New York, will have more than 9,000 participants, day and night.

Charity

Man Running 100 Mile Ultra Marathon to Raise Money for Lupus Foundation

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A man who works for Watertown-based FORMA Therapeutics will run a 100-mile race to raise money to find a cure for Lupus. Thomas Tan wrote the following donation request for his effort to raise $10,000 for the Lupus Foundation of America (See his fundraising page here):

Did you know that an estimated 1.5 million Americans, and at least five million people worldwide, have some form of lupus? A chronic, unpredictable and debilitating autoimmune disease, lupus can affect a major organ such as the heart, lungs, kidneys or brain in approximately half of the patients. To appreciate how devastating this disease is, please watch this heart-breaking story: http://youtu.be/_7P1UNCMG00?list=UUPVIIwfYm5i5JniLtVhu1JA

There is no cure for lupus and scientists are working hard to develop better and safer therapies for lupus: https://lnkd.in/eiwDsiY

But, drug discovery and development can take many years, which is why it’s important to consider other ways to impact patient lives. Raising awareness and engaging the public is an important way to make an impact on research priorities, while inspiring the next generation of healthcare providers to tackle unmet medical needs.