Around Town

Walk Planned in Watertown to Help Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry

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On Saturday, Sept. 26, the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) will hold its 4th annual Walk of Life walkathon in Watertown. The goal of the walk is to raise public awareness as well as funds in support of ABMDR, whose mission it is to fight leukemia and other blood-related disorders by finding stem cell donor matches for those in need of life-saving transplant procedures. “We are excited about the upcoming Walk of Life this fall and hope it is received as enthusiastically by our community organizations as it was in 2014,” said Alvart Badalian, a member of the ABMDR Board. “Just a reminder: You can also participate in the waklkathon virtually as in years before.”

The 2.2-mile walk will begin at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC) at 47 Nichols Avenue and will end at Watertown’s annual Faire on the Square Festival, a fun-filled end-of-summer event for all ages.

Around Town

Golf Tournament Raises Big Bucks for Watertown Boys & Girls Club

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The Watertown Boys and Girls Club held its 38th Annual Stephen P. Mugar Memorial Golf Tournament this week at the Oakley Country Club. Well over 100 golfers joined in for a gorgeous day of golf followed by a dinner and auction on Aug. 10. The event raised over $170k to support our Academic Success, Healthy Living and Character Development programs, which serve hundreds of youth each year. The Watertown Boys & Girls Club wishes to thank all our golfers, volunteers, hole sponsors and supporters.

Charity

LETTER: Watertown Group to Help Seniors to Remove Snow This Winter

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Watertown Prosperity, Inc. would like to announce to members of the Watertown community, that for the second straight year, it will be conducting its snow-shoveling program. What is the program? Local volunteers from Watertown schools are matched with elderly and/or disabled Watertown residents to remove snow from their home for the duration of the winter. How does it work? A small group of volunteers is assigned to each home that signs up with us.

Around Town

3 Watertown Groups Awarded Belmont Savings Foundation Grants

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The Belmont Savings Bank Foundation announced the winners of a $30,000 grant competition for its charitable giving initiative in Watertown. Previously, residents nominated local charities for a donation based on voting on the Foundation website. Through the initiative, the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation is investing $10,000 into three programs located in Watertown. The local winners are:

Armenian Cultural And Educational Center (ACEC) has been serving the needs of the Armenian-American community of Greater Boston since 1980, and continues to be home to a number of Armenian organizations. The winning grant will fund updates to its multi-media/meeting room.

Around Town

Local Yoga Studio Holding Class With Fees Being Donated to Charities

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A local yoga studio will offer classes at a reduced rate, with the funds for the classes going to local organizations and charities. Groundwork yoga + wellness is excited to announce a new weekly class starting in mid-August: Community Yoga. The purpose of this class is to provide an opportunity for people to explore the benefits of yoga at a reduced price, experience various teaching styles, and to support local organizations or charities that offer wellness programs or initiatives. Certified yoga instructors will be donating their time to teach the classes, and students attending the classes will be encouraged to donate $5-$10 per class, according to the announcement. All of the funds raised will be donated to pre-selected local organizations or charities that support or provide wellness programs.

Megan Dattoli, Watertown resident and owner of GROUNDWORK yoga + wellness, 402 Trapelo Road in Belmont, is seeking input from local residents about which wellness programs they would like to support.

Charity

Community Blood Drive on Saturday at the Police Station

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The Red Cross will be at the Watertown Police Station on Saturday, July 18 for a blood drive. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Community Room on the first floor of the Police Station, 552 Main St. in Watertown. To set up a time to give blood call 1-800-RED CROSS (733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org.

Charity

Watertown Community Foundation Has Volunteer Opportunities

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If you’re interested in volunteering, or want to use your skills to help your community, check out these volunteer opportunities at the Watertown Community Foundation. If you’re interested in only some of the activities listed under a position, let us know — these can be split up among multiple people. Some are ongoing volunteer activities and others are one-time projects that may take a few weeks or a few months. Hours are flexible; you can volunteer whenever is convenient for you, except for occasional meetings that we will coordinate around everyone’s schedule. Webmaster/Social Media :

Maintain WCF website; perform weekly check to see if content is up to date and post updates and new content with input from board members
Manage WCF’s Facebook presence (and any other social media you’re interested in)
Estimated to be a 1-2 hour commitment per week

Information technology specialist(s):

Turn WCF’s donor and mailing list spreadsheets into a web-accessible database that is easy to update (Estimated commitment: 10-20 hours total)
Help with setup and rollout of Office 365; help us improve our team site and put together an education/training campaign for users (Estimated commitment: 10-30 hours total)
Ongoing maintenance of our Office 365 infrastructure (Estimated commitment: 4 hours per month)

If you’re interested or want to learn more, email info@watertownfoundation.org

Charity

Watertown Man Will Ride 62 Miles to End Alzheimer’s Disease

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Doug Orifice, of Watertown, will bike 62 miles in the 2015 Ride to End Alzheimer’s Saturday, July 18. Beginning and ending in Fort Devens the Ride provides a 2-mile family ride, 30-mile, 62-mile and 100-mile route reaching all the way from Western Massachusetts to Southern New Hampshire. Orifice joined the Ride to honor the memory of his grandfather, Leo Egidio. To date, Orifice has raised over $2,800 of his $3,000 goal for the event. “I wanted to do my tiny part in helping raise money to help eradicate this illness,” said Orifice.