Watertown Middle School Kicks Off Pennies for Patients Fundraiser

This year, the Watertown Middle School will again be participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s School & Youth Program, Pennies for Patients — a three-week coin, cash, and check drive to raise funds to find cures for blood cancers. Our drive will run from February 29 through March 21. As you may know, leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. Mr. Johnson, our physical education teacher, is a lymphoma survivor. Our fundraising is in honor of him and in memory of two other WMS teachers, Pat Stayn and Peter Clough, who died as a result of lymphoma.

Hibernians Ladies Hosting Annual Ham-O-Rama, Raffle for Easter Meal

The 2016 Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Ham-O-Rama is coming up soon! The annual event will be held on Saturday, March 19, at Hibernian Hall, 151 Watertown St. in Watertown. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Admission is free, and there will be 160 chances to win, with 40 prizes per round. The money raised goes to local charities.

Project Literacy Seeks Volunteers to Help People Learn English

Project Literacy at the Watertown Free Public Library is seeking volunteers for its well-established (30 + years) and successful one-on-one learner-tutor match program.  The only requirements to volunteer are:

A desire to help welcome and integrate English language learners and to assist with their English skills, attend the training sessions, and complete a Volunteer Application (available online at the Watertown Library site under Project Literacy or we will send one). No experience in teaching or tutoring is needed to work with our learners. We provide tutors with training over the course of 5 evening sessions. The next training series will begin on Wednesday, March 2 from 6-9 p.m. at the Watertown Library.

Man Running Marathon for Late Father Hosting Fundraiser at Donohue’s

Danny Shea of Chelmsford is hosting Drinks and Dancing with Old Brigade to raise awareness and funds for the Alzheimer’s Association, Massachusetts/New Hampshire’s Boston Marathon Team. The special event is open to the public and set for Saturday, Feb. 27 at the Donohue’s Bar and Grill, 87 Bigelow Ave, Watertown. “I am running to honor my late father, Jerry Shea, formerly of Belmont and an educator at Cambridge and Latin High School in Cambridge. He succumbed to this devastating disease in June,” said Shea.

See the Winners of the Watertown Savings Customer Choice Awards

Watertown Savings Bank announced the winners of the Customer Choice Awards, and who will receive a share of the $85,000. Watertown Savings released the following announcement:

Voting in this year’s Customer Choice Awards reached a record high! We had just over 7,000 customers vote. Over 300 different organizations had votes, but only the non-profits that received at least 70 votes made the list of this year’s winners.  Click “full story” to see an alphabetical list of the winners. The awards night is scheduled for April 5.

Group Makes Valentine’s Cards for Operation American Soldier to Send to Troops

Watertown’s Operation American Soldier received a big helping hand from a Cambridge group that made more than 300 Valentine’s Day cards to send to the troops. OAS co-founder Wendy Rocca welcomed the cards, which were made by Many Helping Hands 365. Operation American Soldier sends care packages to servicemen and servicewomen around the world, and the Valentine’s Day cards will go with them, Rocca said. “They made 3400+ cards for Valentine’s. Almost 300 for our Veterans and our troops,” Rocca said. “OAS will be sending a bunch with our packages.”

Watertown Group Continuing Its Collection for Syrian Refugees

Throughout the month of February, Watertown Citizens Refugee Support Group will continue its donation program for essential items to be sent to refugees trapped in camps in Syria and surrounding countries. DONATION INFORMATION:

When: Sundays Feb. 10, 14, 21, 28 from 8:30am-10am; Tuesdays Feb. 2, 9, 16 , 23 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; Thursdays Feb. 4, 11, 18, 25 from 1-5 p.m.

Where: Church of the Good Shepherd, 9 Russell Ave.