Around Town

New Executive Director of Watertown Community Foundation Appointed

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The Watertown Community Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Jan Craige Singer as its new Executive Director. The Foundation sent out the following announcement:

Jan brings more than two decades of management and entrepreneurial experience in digital media and marketing. She is a passionate believer in the power of small groups of people to build and sustain healthy, vibrant communities. Colleagues describe her as someone who is motivated, motivational, optimistic, and someone who thinks outside the box. A 25-year resident of Watertown, Jan combined her creative and business acumen as president and managing partner of Big Blue Dot, a Watertown-based boutique brand strategy, design, and marketing agency for kids and families, building an award-winning team serving a client list which included USAA, Disney, P & G, and Unilever.

Around Town

Community Foundation Awards Healthy Watertown Grants to 5 Local Groups

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The Watertown Community Foundation announced it has awarded $8,600 to five community organizations in December 2017 through its Healthy Watertown grant program. These funded everything from a new freezer and display tables for the food pantry to taxi rides for participants in the Senior Center’s events and Narcan for the Watertown Police Department to distribute. “Health concerns virtually every aspect of our lives, from nutrition and positive eating choices, to substance use and abuse, to social engagement as we age. These grants reflect that breadth of issues, and we’re thrilled to be able to make them for the fifth year,” said co-Vice President Emily Barclay. In addition to the Watertown Food Pantry, the Watertown Senior Center and the Watertown Police Department, recipients also included the W.A.T.E.R.Town Task Force for Substance Abuse Disorder and Live Well Watertown.

Around Town

Watertown Community Foundation Seeks Applications for Health, School Grants

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The Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) is pleased to announce that we are
accepting applications for two programs: the Healthy Watertown Grants program and the School Program Grants (offered in conjunction with the Watertown Education Foundation). Healthy Watertown Grants

WCF has $10,000 in available grant money for the Healthy Watertown program. We are looking to support new or existing health focused programs that serve Watertown residents. Examples of programs eligible for Healthy Watertown Grants include:
• Food pantry programs or equipment needs
• Programs/services fostering healthy aging
• Support programs for care-givers
• Nutrition and/or meals programs for seniors
• Programs combating obesity
• Programs designed to help substance abusers become or remain “clean”
• Health-related programs for infants and their families
• Supplies/tools for community gardens
Health programs that serve students in Watertown’s public schools should apply to the School-based grant program. Healthy Watertown Grant proposals are due: November 1, 2017.

Around Town

New Local Cable Show Puts Spotlight on Groups Making a Difference in Watertown

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A new show debuted on Watertown Cable on Thursday called Inside Watertown hosted by longtime local business and community leader Paul Airasian and your’s truly, Charlie Breitrose, editor of Watertown News. Paul and I have worked together a number of times beginning when I was editor of Watertown Patch and he was hosting Watertown Business Report on WCA-TV. That collaboration has continued, most recently when I helped in the offices of the Watertown-Belmont Chamber of Commerce during Paul’s time as executive director. When he moved on from the chamber, we looked around for other ways to work together and he came up with the idea of a local cable show. I had been a guest on Paul’s previous show, but we wanted to look at Watertown from a broader perspective.

Around Town

Give Back to Your Community During the 4th Annual Watertown Helps Out

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Watertown Helps Out! Fourth Annual Community Day of Service kicks off Saturday, May 6, 8:30 a.m. at the Arsenal Project

How do you give back to the community? Where are organizations that need your help? Are there opportunities for your family to serve? In 2014, the Watertown Community Foundation created a townwide day of service, Watertown Helps Out, to fill this need.

Charity

Watertown Community, Education Foundations Announce Joint Grant Awards

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The Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) and the Watertown Education Foundation (WEF) are pleased to announce their first joint grant awards for education. A record number of 42 applicants submitted proposals for this grant cycle, designed to benefit educational programs in Watertown’s public schools. “We received 42 interesting and wide-ranging grant applications, making the review committee’s job very difficult. We are pleased to be able to fund 23 outstanding projects, for a total of $35,012,” said Thea Sahr, Grant Committee Chair for the Watertown Community Foundation. “It was a pleasure to be able to share our grant making with the Watertown Education Foundation, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them in the future.”

Elaina Griffith, Co-President of the Watertown Education Foundation, said the collaboration will make it easier for educators to get funds for their projects and programs.

“The idea behind this partnership came about after the realization our educators were having to go to a number of different non-profits to fulfill their grant needs.    Streamlining the grant request process theoretically making it a one-stop shop made sense,” Griffth said. “The $25,000 in grant monies given by the Ed Foundation are a direct result of our Dancing With the Stars fundraising event last year.

Around Town

Watertown Community Foundation’s Affirms its Mission to Serve a Diverse Town

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The Watertown Community Foundation released the following statement. 

Watertown thrives as a community because of the people who have come to it, for 387 years, from all corners of the world. Within the town’s small geographic footprint is an incredible diversity of cultures, heritages, and languages, each contributing to the strength and richness of our town. The mission of the Watertown Community Foundation is to build and sustain a vibrant, close-knit community in Watertown, Massachusetts — now and for future generations. We are proud to support the role of every member of this community, new or old, regardless of where they have come from, what languages they speak, how they worship, or who they love. Watertown Community Foundation: Here for good.

Around Town

Watertown Community Foundation Introduces New Executive Director

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The Watertown Community Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Cathy Berkley as its new Executive Director. Cathy brings more than three decades of management experience in social service, education, government and non-profit, as well as large businesses. She is a passionate believer in the power of small groups of people to build and sustain healthy, vibrant communities. Prior to moving to Watertown, Cathy was Executive Director of the Crisis Call Center of Reno, Nevada, a 24-hour, 7 day, 365 days a year operation providing safe and compassionate support for individuals in any type of crisis. Cathy previously managed Senior Services for Santa Fe County, N.M., and has served on the Board of Directors of several nonprofit organizations involving health, education and community institutions in New Mexico, Colorado and California.