Around Town

Mount Auburn Hospital Honors Blood Donors

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Mt. Auburn Hospital recently hosted their first ever Corporate Blood Donor Awards breakfast. Companies who support the hospital’s Blood Donor Center and send their employees to the hospital to donate blood were honored and thanked. On hand to recognize each of the donors was Elzbieta Griffiths, MD, Director of the Blood Bank and Donor Center at Mount Auburn Hospital. Among the honorees were Mary Salvucci, head of human resources at Perkins School for the Blind and David Campbell, property manager at CB Richard Ellis, New England Partners, LP

Around Town

See Who Will Lead Watertown Rotary Next Year & Award Winners

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The Watertown Rotary Club appointed its new president and board, and gave out awards during the annual installation of officers and board members. The new Watertown President will be Anthony Donato, the President-Elect is Ronald LeSanto, and the Vice President is Jesse Wallace. The new treasurer is Edward Sugrue, Secretary will be Debra A. Boyajian, Club Advisor-Robert Whitney and Past President Terry Griffith, Jr.

The Board of Directors are: Dr. Domenic D’Amico, John Nealon, Maria Papadopoulos, Dr. Martin J. Greene, Nicole Starck and Alexander Rosin.  

Awards were also handed out during the ceremony. The Outstanding Rotarian went to Anna Glover and Rotary’s highest honor, a Paul Harris Fellow, was awarded to Meg Urquhart.

Around Town

Former Resident Paints Picture to Honor Those Who Stopped the Marathon Bombers

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The actions of Watertown’s first responders when they stopped the Boston Marathon Bombing suspects moved a former Watertown resident so much she had to capture it in art. During the Tuesday, June 24 Town Council meeting, Hillary Temple and her mother Dorothy Noke, 85, presented the council and Police Chief Edward Deveau with a brass plaque and painting done by Noke to be given to the Town of Watertown. Noke grew up on Walnut Street with her sister, and decided to make the painting after the tragic events that led to the capture of alleged Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “I was born and raised in Watertown and right near where the incident happened was Underwoods and we used to slide down the hill during the winter into Underwoods parking lot and I didn’t realize how much that whole thing affected me,” said Noke. “It brought back memories of my old childhood which was really nice, but anyways, so I have this piece of art and I’d like to leave it here in Watertown to say thank you for everything, that the police and the firemen and the people and everything affected me and how much I appreciate what was done.”

Her oil painting “Boston Strong” has a plaque on it that reads, “Boston Strong in honor of those who were affected and those who protected (thank you very much) God Bless April 15, 2013.”

However, it also came with a brass plaque that reads: “For the Watertown heroes in memory of my husband Theodore Noke and sister Barbara Nelson who lived and worked in Watertown most of their lives from Dorothy Noke, artist, and the Temple and Noke family.”

According to Noke’s daughter, Hillary Temple, the donation meant a lot to her mother, who now lives in Framingham, because her husband owned Mt.

Around Town

Watertown Boys & Girls Club Offering Lots of Fun Activities this Summer

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Summer is here and enrollment is now open for the Watertown Boys and Girls Club summer camp and other activities! Summer Adventure 2014 – Applications for campers ages 7-13 and Junior Camp Leaders ages 14-16 are available on the Boys and Girls Club website at: www.watertownbgc.org/programs/. This year, Summer Adventure will travel to Camp Hale in Westwood for six weeks, and Camp Chickami in Wayland for two weeks. Both camps offer swimming, hiking, archery, arts and crafts, athletics and more! We also offer Trip Week August 25–28.

Around Town

You May be Seeing More of Eliza Dushku Around Watertown

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Watertown’s very own Hollywood star will be moving back to the area, so look for Eliza Dushku around her hometown! Dushku told the Boston Globe that she is heading back to Watertown after breaking up with her longtime beau and former NBA player Rick Fox. (See the Globe story here)

She has purchased a condo in the area and may be going back to school, Dushku told the Globe. Know for her roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Dollhouse,” Dushku is filming a movie at a former psychiatric hospital in Michigan this summer (find out more here). She graduated from Watertown High School and has family in the area still, including her mother, a former Suffolk University professor, and brother Aaron, who is on the Watertown Town Council.

Around Town

Good Samaritan Law Allows Reporting of Heroin Overdoses Without Being Arrested

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The number of overdoses from Heroin and other opiates has risen sharply in the last few years in Watertown, and a local group wants to spread the word that reporting an overdose is important and those doing so won’t be prosecuted. The exact number is not known, but people tracking overdoses get an idea from the number of deaths. From 2010-13, 19 people in Watertown died from drug related causes and there are 11 more deaths where the cause may be related to drug, said Stephanie Sunderland-Ramsey, a program coordinator with Wayside Youth and Family Support Network in Watertown. Watertown has teamed with Cambridge, Somerville and Everett to work on opiate abuse. They helped the Watertown Fire Department get anti-overdose medication – Narcan – which is now carried on all fire vehicles.

Around Town

Watertown Youth Coalition Hands Out Community Spirit Awards

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The Watertown Youth Coalition celebrated work done by a number of people this year by presenting them with “Community Spirit Awards.” On June 16, the awards were handed out to recognize people for going above and beyond to support youth and families in Watertown. Each year, the Watertown Youth Coalition (WYC), part of Wayside Multi-Service Center, asks the community to nominate people who:

Serve as a positive influence or mentor to a Coalition member or to others in the community
Have the courage to address challenging issues that affect youth and the community
Actively take steps to improve the Watertown community (in big and small ways)

This year, awards were presented to:

Dean Celesia, Kate Coyne, Patrick Dawson, Danielle DeMoss, Alice Elbakian, Judy Fallows, Mana Farhani, Pedro Figueroa, Michelle Foun, Raymond Fox, Friends of Watertown Music, Adrine Harutyunyan, Kelly Horan, Diane Murphy, Sabrina Nebiye, Meghan O’Connell, Tony Palomba, Elisa Portz, Watertown Education Foundation, Ashlee Wisniewsk and Elizabeth Wissler. The Watertown Youth Coalition thanked these awardees and the people that nominated them. “Watertown is a wonderful community with so many caring adults looking out for the interest of the youth living here!”

Around Town

Tufts Health Plan Lends a Helping Hand Around Watertown

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Groups of people in blue T-shirts could be seen around Watertown last week working on a variety of projects – all part of the Tufts Health Plan Corporate Volunteer Day. More than 130 employees of the company based on Mt. Auburn Street in Watertown took part in the company’s sixth annual volunteer day. Some cleared brush and planted flowers and plants at the Commander’s Mansion and the Old Burying Place; while others painted the railing at Watertown’s Main Street Bridge, buildings at Arsenal Park and a wall at Filippello Park.  

A wall on Baptist Walk (off Mt.