Around Town

See Which Groups got Grants from the Watertown Community Foundation

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The Watertown Community Foundation handed out more than $19,000 in Healthy Watertown grants – see which groups got them. The Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) Board of Directors awarded the grants, which funded by Tufts Health Plan Foundation. The following ten nonprofit organizations serving Watertown got the grants:

Families for Depression Awareness: A grant to conduct a Teen Depression Program in Watertown to educate a minimum of 100 families. Improbable Players and Watertown Middle School: A grant to present WMS sixth graders with a performance about substance abuse prevention and healthy choices as well as to provide six related theater workshops for the seventh graders. Lowell Elementary School: A grant to expand the school’s Learning Garden so each grade level will have designated space for curriculum-connected, project-based learning.

Business

Watertown Insurance Agency Brings in Big Haul for Toys for Tots

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The H & K Insurance Agency set a goal and accomplished it – they broke their own record for the amount of items they could collect for the Toys for Tots Drive. 

For the past several years the Watertown Square insurance agency has hold the drive that benefits the U.S. Marine Corps effort to collect toys to distribute to less fortunate children during the holidays. This year they tried to spread the word so they could up the ante and bring in more toys. “So far each year has been a little more successful than the last. But this year, thanks to the kindness of everyone involved, we have pretty much doubled our haul for the kids,” said Paul Perry, CISR, AAI Treasurer/General Manager of H & K Insurance. Even after the drive had officially ended, people were still coming in to drop off toys.

Around Town

Watertown Boy Scouts Lend a Hand This Thanksgiving

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This year, members of Watertown’s Cub Scouts and Boys Scouts Pack 30 gathered at local grocery stores for a food drive to benefit residents of Watertown. By the end of the day on Nov. 22, 17 boys had collected hundreds of pounds of food to benefit Saint Patrick – St. Vincent de Paul’s Food Pantry and Watertown Food Pantry, according to the announcement from the Watertown Boy Scouts. Not only did the Cub Scouts gather nonperishables at Star Market in Cambridge on Saturday afternoon, they eagerly stocked the Saint Patrick’s shelves into the evening.

Charity

Watertown High School Students Raise Cash for Cancer Reserach

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A group of Watertown High School students decided to raise money to fight breast cancer and they were able to bring in more than $1,000 to fight the disease. The Think Pink drive in October raised money to fight breast cancer, said WHS Senior Class President Kayla Johnson. “I know five brave women battling this terrible disease,” Johnson told the School Committee earlier this month. The group made up T-shirts and sold pink ribbons. They also asked students and faculty to donate change.

Around Town

Watertown Woman Spearheads Effort to Raise Money for Homeless Veterans

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Rather than have a birthday celebration for her 85th birthday, real estate agency owner and Watertown resident Sonia Boyajian decided to raise money to help homeless veterans. Boyajian, who owns Real Estate 109 on the Belmont/Watertown line, asked the owner of Not Your Average Joe’s restaurants, Stephen Silverstein, about doing a month-long fundraiser. “I just couldn’t accept that some of our veterans, who’d served our country, were without places to live,” Boyajian said. Silverstein agreed to have the fundraiser at all 16 for the New England Center for Homeless Veterans of his restaurants and in addition offered to host a ticketed event in the Watertown NYAJs at the end of October to help launch Veterans Month in November. The sold-out fundraiser, held on Oct.

Around Town

Find Out How to Help Family of 6 Displaced by Fire

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A fire struck a home on Amherst Road Sunday around noon, and while the fire did not destroy the home the family of six living there will be displaced for several weeks. A fundraising effort has been set up to help the Harsh family. The family has four children, ages 6 to 17, and three of the children are currently staying with friends, according to the GoFundMe.com page set up by Ida Mae Stone, mother of Angela Giard Harsh. Watertown Firefighters responded to the fire that hit the rear of the home. “A quick aggressive attack by truck and engine companies limited the damage to the outside of the structure,” an account on the Watertown Fire Department Facebook page reads. The family lost many possessions and need additional help, according to Stone.

Business

Insurance Agency Seeks to Beat Record for Toys for Tots

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Last year, H&K Insurance Agency of Watertown collected the most items for the Toys for Tots drive, and they seek to beat it this year. The toy drive has been able to distribute over 469 million toys to less fortunate children thanks to the help of generous people. In years past, CISR, AAI Treasurer/General Manager Paul Perry and his wife, Daralyn Perry, CISR Commercial Lines Manager, have donated generously to Toys for Tots from their own pockets. They hope others will join them this year. “Helping those in need is something that we really value here at H & K Insurance,” said Perry.

Business

See Why Tufts Health Plan is Going Purple This Month

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You may have noticed that the Tufts Health Plan building on Mt. Auburn Street has been lit up purple this week. The employees have been donning purple outfits too. The company is once again observing World Alzheimer’s Month with activities to help bring an end to the disease. Over the past week, employees from all locations wore purple to raise awareness and show support for current sufferers and their caregivers.