Wellesley Historical Tollhouse Shop is now online

August 7, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

For those customers missing the treasures often found at the Wellesley Historical Society’s Tollhouse Shop since it closed in March due to COVID-19, the techno-challenged volunteers have stepped up their game and created an Instagram account and on-line shopping site where select items can be purchased and delivered through contactless arrangements.

Currently available are Waterford goblets, Mariposa hostess gifts, Shelley tea cup and coffee pot, Williams Sonoma Lobster Boil Plates to name a few. Additional items are added every week. Photos of available items can be seen on Instagram at Tollhouse229 or viewed in greater detail along with purchasing instructions at www.wellesleyhistoricalsociety.org/tollhouse-shop.

(Shared by Maura Shoulkin)

WHS Tollhouse Shop

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Wellesley High School students help refugees turn the Next Page

July 28, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, in FY 2019, (October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019), a total of 30,000 refugees were resettled in the United States. Once they gain entrance to the country, refugees need assistance with basics such as affordable housing, school supplies, English language acquisition, and finding a job.

Next Page, Wellesley — Zona Sherman, a ceramicist, is one of the artists partnering with Next Page.

A group of Wellesley High School students searching for a way to help hit upon the idea of starting a non-profit that would tackle the most pressing needs of the newly arrived. Ela Eryilmaz, Lauren Pryor, and Isabella Remedios, along with several additional WHS students, have started a non-profit called Next Page, created to help refugees thrive after they go through the initial resettlement process and start work toward putting down roots in a community. The goal of Next Page is to donate funds to local shelters and programs that provide English as an Additional Language classes, job opportunities, housing, and other services that help refugees turn the next page in the current chapter of their lives.

To raise funds the organization connects artisans and buyers through Instagram (@officialnextpage), and soon to an e-commerce website. Part of the money from the art pieces sold will go to the artist, generally a creative with a strong belief in Next Page’s mission (seven artists have so far signed on). Part of the funds raised will be used by Next Page in order to continue their social impact work. The main revenue needs are those to create the e-commerce website, register as a 501(c)(3), and buy items to donate to the programs and shelters.

The groups that Next Page are working with are the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants; The Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center; and the International Institute of New England; all with locations in Boston.

Eryilmaz, a rising junior who is fluent in both English and Turkish, says she is drawn to helping refugees, as she has seen at least part of their journey first-hand. She was so moved by her experiences in Turkey that she wrote a poem that reads in in part, “The elderly had sorrow in their eyes, staring at the sea with memories of the abandoned homeland./Kids played with deflated balls, broken plastic cars, reusable water bottles, rocks, old books — not understanding the situation./What we saw in the pictures became a reality/We drove to the villages on the mountain tops…”

The US Department of Homeland Security defines a refugee as “a person outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Eryilmaz doesn’t quibble with that definition, but she finds inspiration in author Khaled Hosseini’s broader view of the matter: “Refugees are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, with the same hopes and ambitions as us—except that a twist of fate has bound their lives to a global refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale.”

Donations being accepted to fill Wellesley kids’ backpacks

July 20, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The new Kids Backing Kids nonprofit has kicked off its July/August donation drive to fill backpacks with school supplies for Wellesley elementary school children in need. Supplies requested include crayons, notebook, hand sanitizer and more (complete list embedded below), and monetary donations can be made through the charity’s website.

Kids Backing Kids will provide the backpacks and the volunteers to organize and stuff the backpacks with supplies. Backpacks then will be given to local K-6 schools, the Wellesley Housing Authority, and Wellesley Youth Commission for distribution.

Supplies can be dropped off at 165 Linden St. in Wellesley (next to Talbots in Linden Square) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays July 29 through Aug. 26.

Download (PDF, Unknown)

Wellesley education round-up: fill out those surveys; college dreams NOW; building bridges for a better tomorrow; congrats MassBay grads

July 7, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley High School Superintendent Lussier has sent out an email to Wellesley Public School families with important dates regarding a survey completion deadline, focus group participation, and a virtual community update.

Wellesley families have been asked to complete a Family Reopening Survey to help the schools collect essential data on key reopening topics. The survey will close at 3pm on Friday, July 10th. One response per family, please. Here are the links:

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has asked each district to develop three plans this summer, which outline a full in-person reopening; a hybrid approach that includes both in-person and remote learning; and a full remote learning option. Depending on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that districts may employ one or more of these models over the course of the next school year.

In addition to the survey, Wellesley schools are offering three Focus Groups on July 13th and 14th to capture additional information from PreK/Elementary School, Middle School, and High School parents and guardians. If you are interested in participating, please use the link at the conclusion of the family survey to express your interest. (The WPS will need to keep these numbers manageable, so will be drawing a random sample from those who share their interest.)

A virtual WPS Community Update will take place on Thursday, July 9, 4pm -5pm for WPS team members to provide an overview of their planning efforts as well as to allow for questions and comments from the community.

Howard University, here she comes

The road for Wellesley High School 2019 graduate Alia Saleebaan has taken her from Somalia, where she lived until age 5, to Sweden until she was 15, to the United States. Along the way, she’s never stopped working toward her dream of thriving in college. In a phone interview, Alia shared with me her lifelong outlook: “No matter what, you have to keep doing, keep moving forward. You can always find reasons not to do something. There’s always a hill. But don’t ever stop in the middle. Keep going. Get to the top. You can do it.”

But like everybody, Alia needs a little help to climb that hill. After finishing as a first-year student at Mass Bay Community College, she was accepted to Howard University as a biology major for Fall 2020. Attending Howard is her dream come true. The Washington, DC private college has provided Alia with about 1/3 of tuition, fees, and room and board via a scholarship; Wellesley Scholarship Foundation has kicked in another 1/3; but there’s still at $20k+ financial gap, which she cannot completely bridge through her summer job at an optometrist’s office.

Through a Go Fund Me campaign, Alia says, “I need your donations to fill the gap that remains after all of the scholarship aid.”

You can read Alia’s story here, and donate to this first-generation college student’s cause.

Dear Skype Pal…

Wellesley High School student Louisa Eaton is launching The Building Cultural Bridges program, a cultural exchange project for Upham and Fiske fourth- and fifth-grade students in which they will Skype with a student abroad.

Run as a WHS club, Eaton in an email says, “We hope that by learning about cultures both inside and outside Wellesley they will start to be excited by different cultures and want to accept and celebrate them. Part of the program will be teaching the children about cultures inside of Wellesley. We hope this will create a better sense of community in Wellesley and a more public sense of diversity.”

The club advisor is Modern World History teacher Ms. Emily Gibbens.

Congratulations MassBay graduates from Wellesley

MassBay, Wellesley MassBay Community College honored graduating students at the College’s 58^th virtual commencement ceremony on Tue., June 30. The prerecorded ceremony celebrated the 671 graduates from 41 countries from around the world. Congratulations to all the students, but we’ll admit that those from our swell town of Wellesley hold a special place in our heart.

MassBay’s graduates from Wellesley are:

Benjamin Alphonse DiBiase
Matthew Glick
Stacy Marie Okada
Erin Raycroft
Josh Nicholas Stuhldreher
Paola Lopez Zapata
Ntonhle Agartha Kekana

More:

Wellesley Scholarship Foundation comes through for WHS Class of 2020

July 5, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

WHS class of 2020 This spring, the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation (WSF) proudly awarded 24 college scholarships to members of the Wellesley High School graduating class of 2020 who joyfully received their high school diplomas in their festively decorated cars on the morning of June 6.

Overall, WSF awarded $316,000 in need-based college scholarships to a total of 86 rising and currently-enrolled college students. The scholarships range in value from $1000-$15,000, with a median value of $3,500. Prior to this year, only Wellesley residents had been eligible for these scholarships. In 2019, the Foundation changed its charter to make scholarship eligibility possible for all graduates of Wellesley High School, and this year, for the first time, a significant number of WHS graduates who would not have been able to apply for WSF college scholarships in previous years received them.

These newest WHS graduates who are recipients of WSF scholarships have been active participants in the life of the town. They have been helping to coach youth sports, working on political campaigns, competing on athletic, robotics and dance teams, playing music, and acting on stage. They’ve interned in research laboratories, worked in retail, and fought for social justice. Once the pandemic allows them to enter school, this year’s newest WSF scholarship recipients will be attending colleges and technical institutes everywhere from Massachusetts to Minnesota, even as far away as Canada. They have plans to major in everything from business to education to acting to STEM disciplines.

The Wellesley Scholarship Foundation was established in 1951 with the aim of empowering all Wellesley students to reach their highest potential by providing financial assistance for post-secondary education to those who need it. WSF scholarships were, and continue to be, funded by the generosity of members of the Wellesley community who share WSF’s belief that a well-educated society is a thriving society. Learn more about the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation, what it is and what is does .

(Submitted by Nora Tracy Phillips)

Wellesley family launches Kids Backing Kids to aid children in need, engage those who can help

July 2, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

kids backing kids logo The new Kids Backing Kids charity, founded by Wellesley’s Rodrigue family and supported by a board and partners, supplies kids in need with backpacks stuffed with food, health products, clothes, toys and holiday gifts. But that’s only the start: The program is also designed to help kids who are hungry, homeless, living in poverty, or suffering trauma in part by educating other kids about their plight and training them to speak publicly about these issues.

The organizers—Dr. Jim Rodrigue (Wellesley Recreation Commission) and Dr. Kathleen MacNaughton, and daughters Grace (WHS senior), Olivia (WHS junior) and Simone (WMS 8th grader)—say they originally planned to supply kids with free backpacks filled with school supplies. When COVID-19 hit, and more families and children found themselves in worse or suddenly difficult circumstances, Kids Backing Kids took on its broader mission. Among the organization’s directors is Gerardo Martinez, principal at Wellesley’s Schofield Elementary School, which the Rodrigue sisters attended.

The Rodrigue sisters, all backpacked up, say they are operating Kids Backing Kids from their home

Exposed to kids in need

While the Rodrigues haven’t seen a lot in the way of poverty, food insecurity or homelessness locally, Grace says “we know there are a lot of kids who go to Wellesley schools that need more and are living in poverty.”

The sisters have been more directly exposed to children in need through their parents’ work in the health field and other volunteer efforts, including with the National Charity League, which brings moms and daughters together in community efforts, and the Red Cross food pantry in Boston. And they know that the COVID-19 crisis is making things much harder for many.

“COVID-19 has really impacted all the topics we’re focusing on. It’s made childhood poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity a lot worse,” says Grace, noting that she and her sisters love working with kids, including by babysitting. “With COVID-19 obviously being such a big thing right now we need to make sure the backpacks are delivered in a safe way, everything’s wiped down, and they have to be delivered with no contact. So it’s going to be trickier to deliver them, but we’ll probably also have more demand.”

The Kids Backing Kids organization’s name stems in part from the word “backpacks,” but Olivia adds that it also refers to “having kids’ backs.” The outfit has 75 backpacks ready for its first delivery in a week or so to a group that works with children who have been sexually abused. Another 200 backpacks will be prepped for delivery to schools at the start of the new school year, even if some kids won’t necessarily be lugging backpacks back and forth to school at that point.

The sisters say they have weekly meetings with their board and put in another hour a day on Kids Backing Kids (and two of them also work at Truly’s).

Getting the word out

To date, the group’s plan has spread through word of mouth, emails to friends, and social media.

The goal is for children to be referred for backpacks via teachers, coaches, guidance counselors, neighbors, friends and family, among others. The organization will then reach out to a parent or guardian to confirm the child is a good fit for the program and fill a backpack for the child within a few days.

At this time, Kids Backing Kids is for children in kindergarten-6th grade in Framingham, Natick, Needham, Newton, Wayland, Wellesley and Weston.

The program hopes to expand its reach in the coming year, in part through spreading the word at various venues, from schools to faith-based organizations to government agencies to businesses and non-profits. Volunteer mentors will help to train youth volunteers to speak publicly about the causes that Kids Backing Kids addresses. So far, 20 teens, most from Wellesley, have volunteered.

While the original idea was to get these volunteers physically into the community to discuss food insecurity, poverty, and homelessness, they initially will be communicating through a video to be disseminated via social media and by Zoom calls. The sisters are angling for organizations to sign on their volunteers as guest speakers on web conference calls during classes and other meetings.

You can help by volunteering (including stuffing backpacks), donating, sponsoring, mentoring, inviting Kids Backing Kids to speak at your events, and more.

More: Wellesley charities & community groups

Wellesley Food Pantry sees slight uptick in numbers served

June 26, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

These are lean times for many, and we felt like we should check in on the Wellesley Food Pantry to see how the 30-year old charitable organization and its clients are doing during this time of pandemic and 15% unemployment in Massachusetts. The pantry is located at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills (UUWH) for the summer. They expect to move back in September to their permanent home at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church once renovations are complete at that space.

Peter Lull, president of the pantry’s Board of Directors, met up with me at UUWH to give me a tour. If you’ve ever been in an old church that has one of those vast multi-purpose rooms where everything happens from games of tag to rummage sales, then you’ve got the picture. Lull thinks the space is just perfect. He says, “The accommodations have been really been wonderful. UU has welcomed us with open arms. They’ve made it easy to work during this time of transition.”

The location isn’t the only thing that has changed. The way the pantry conducts its mission has undergone a dramatic re-work. “We have fewer volunteers working to keep the pantry running because of social distancing requirements and the vulnerability of our volunteers, who tend to skew older. So many are sitting out for now. The extra number of hours required to make this work has probably doubled, on average, but we have made it work with our dedicated volunteers. Many clients say how amazed and grateful they are for the job we’re doing. We care and they can tell,” Lull says.

The numbers of families and individuals who rely on the pantry are gently increasing, and the pantry is bracing itself for a continued rise. At the end of December 2019 they had 183 registered households comprising 390 individuals. Lull notes that the number had been steadily declining for the past few years as more of the younger clients found work.

Wellesley Food Pantry, Peter Lull — A masked-up Peter Lull, president of the pantry’s Board of Directors, met up with me at the pantry to give me a tour.

As of June 3rd, he says, “We’re back up to 192 households of 421 individuals — not a huge increase in households, and we expect to see the numbers rise once the unemployment runs out — but the number reflects more volatility than merely 11 new households, since we’ve had others move away from Wellesley.”

Lull also pointed out that 106 of the individuals in December were 18 and under compared with now, when they have 124 in that same age range. So the growth has clearly been in families. In addition, a number of the households served have one or more family members who have lost jobs.

Along with the usual donations of canned goods, pasta, rice, diapers, and more, with the onset of summer, the pantry is taking in more donations of fresh produce. There’s a dedicated drop-off spot at the Weston Road Community Gardens where gardeners can drop off produce for donation to the pantry. A sign at the pantry directs clients to wash fresh produce, and each bag of food comes with a reminder note to do so.

Overall, donations of food and monetary donations continue to come in at a good clip. “We very much appreciate all the support the community has provided for our clients,” Lull says. “We’re a supplement for people who need it. The food we give helps families stretch their dollars.”

As far as donations go, the bad news is that the annual Stamp Out Hunger drive was canceled, an effort that typically results in 10% of the yearly donated food. And it is unknown if the Scouting for Food drive will happen in the fall. That drive accounts for 40% of food donations.

How to donate to the Wellesley Food Pantry

Curbside donations at UUWH’s west entrance are Mondays, 8:30am – 10:30am (look for curbside bins). You can also donate food at the designated donation bins at Roche Bros. in Linden Square and Whole Foods. Here’s the updated wish list.

Monetary donations may be made online at this link.

Checks made out to Wellesley Food Pantry may be sent to 207 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02481