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.

Around Town

Tufts Health Plan Foundation Giving Out $2 Million in Grants

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Watertown-based Tufts Health Plan Foundation handed out $2 million in grants to a wide array of non-profit groups around Massachusetts, including a Watertown-based organization. The Tufts Health Plan Foundation recently announced its investments of more than $2 million in grants as part of its first cycle under the foundation’s new guidelines. These investments advance community efforts toward the World Health Organization’s standards for Age-friendly Communities and fall within the categories of Systems and Best Practices and a new President’s Leadership Fund. The foundation is moving to fewer, larger grants and multiple year investments. This year, 61 percent of grantees are new to the foundation and represent collaborative work among more than 250 organizations.

Business

Hundreds of Tufts Employees Volunteer Around Watertown

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Nearly 220 Tufts Health Plan employees demonstrated with their actions that community matters during the company’s annual volunteer day. Embodying Tufts Health Plan’s mission to improve the health and wellness of the diverse communities it serves, teams set out to clean and beautify three Watertown landmarks, made cards for the elderly, and helped homeless and low-income children get new clothes and toys. “Our employees are generous in giving of their time, treasure and talent to support the communities where they live, work and play,” said Nora Moreno Cargie, Tufts Health Plan Foundation president and Tufts Health Plan vice president of corporate citizenship. “We’re committed to magnifying their passions and commitment through these efforts especially our Corporate Volunteer Day.”

“Employee volunteering is at the heart of our Corporate Citizenship program, and it’s clear from testimonials and surveys that employees appreciate the chance to give back to their communities,” said Stacey Mann, Tufts Health Plan’s enterprise manager for corporate citizenship. Corporate Volunteer Day service projects included:

Sprucing up and planting spring and summer perennials at The Old Burying Place in Watertown
Painting a retaining wall and railing in Watertown’s Coolidge Square in preparation for a public art mural students and residents will paint involving Watertown High School
Scraping and painting the water feature and removing debris at Filippello Park in Watertown
Making “Happy Summer” cards for elderly Meals on Wheels recipients through Ethos
Inspecting and sorting donations, stocking shelves and compiling packages for Brighton-based Cradles to Crayons

Around Town

Community Spirit Awards Presented to People Who Have Served Watertown

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The Community Spirit Awards went to 17 members of the Watertown community who have worked to help the youth in town and make it a better place. On Monday, June 22nd, at Arsenal Park, the Wayside Multi-Service Center/ Watertown Youth Coalition (WYC) hosted the annual Community Spirit Award picnic to honor Watertown community members who:

serve as a positive influence or mentor to others in Watertown
show courage to address challenging issues that affect youth and the community
actively take steps to improve the Watertown community

“We applaud these spirit award recipients 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!” the Wayside/WYC announcement said. The 2015 Community Spirit Award Recipients:

Andrew Allegro (Watertown Middle School)
Bob Galante (Lowell School and Pequossette Summer Program)
Rebecca Grossman (Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leader)
Kraig Gustafson (Watertown High School)
Michael Hayes (Watertown High School Hockey)
Laura Kehoe (Right Turn)
Detective Mark Lewis (Watertown Police Department)
Chris Lowry (Friends of Watertown Music)
Wendy Morrissey (Watertown Against Substance Abuse)
Cris Patvakanian (Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leader)
Larry Raskin (World in Watertown)
Greg Salvucci (Watertown Youth Baseball)
Arlene Smith (Watertown Family Network)
Ernie Thebado (Recreation Department)
Christopher Thigpen (Benchmark Recovery Center)
Lt. Daniel Unsworth (Watertown Police Department)
Wil van Dinter (Watertown Health Department)

Additionally, the organizers thanked to Ralph Vitiello, General Manager of Not Your Average Joe’s restaurant in Watertown, who previously served as co-chair for the Watertown Youth Coalition’s Steering Committee.

Charity

Community Foundation Awards $74K in Grants to Local Groups

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On June 16, at a reception for its 25 spring grantees, the Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) celebrated by distributing checks totaling $74,050.  In the twelve years since WCF was founded, WCF has awarded over $600,000 in grants to organizations serving Watertown. WCF Grant Committee Co-Chair, Rob Kelly, stated, “The Foundation is extremely happy to be able to recognize and financially support the outstanding contributions that these programs and organizations make to our vibrant community.”

All of the grants are funded from WCF’s Arsenal Education Income Fund. 13 Educational Program Grants totaling $23,550 were given to:

Friends of Watertown Music to ensure that instruments are available for Watertown’s free instruction program that starts in fourth grade. Historical Society of Watertown to publish a Watertown self-guided bicycle tour booklet, “Wheels Along the River.”
Improbable Players to present six theater workshops about substance abuse prevention and healthy choices for Watertown Middle School eighth graders. Perkins School for the Blind for their Watertown newspaper accessibility project.