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Who has the cutest pet in Wellesley?

January 7, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley petsWho has the cutest pet in Wellesley?

The Rotary Club of Wellesley is holding a virtual pet photo & video contest!  All you need to enter the club’s contest, is fill out an entry form and submit a $25 entry fee on the website WellesleysGotPets.com.  The window for submissions closes on January 8th and voting will be opened to the public from January 10th to January 24th to decide the winner in each category! The BEST IN SHOW winner will be decided on by three judges: Honorary Chair Sue Webb of Wellesley Animal Control, Dr. Anthony Cosimini of The Cat Hospital, and Dr. Liz Hartman of The Wellesley Animal Hospital.

Proceeds from Wellesley’s Got Pets will got to benefit The MassBay Meal Scholarships provides eligible students with the funds to access food they might not have otherwise be able to afford. Typically, the school provides the meals to students on campus but as students are now having to study remotely due to COVID-19, MassBay has partnered with Imperfect Foods to deliver groceries directly to students’ homes. Imperfect Foods has expanded its service area in a commitment to ensure all eligible students are able to access food deliveries. Recipients of the MassBay Meals Scholarship receive funds through their Imperfect Foods account to choose the produce, meat, and pantry supplies that work best for them. The students will receive weekly $50 credit to their account, for a total of $600, covering the 12 week semester.

Many MassBay students have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, either by job loss or reduction in hourly-wage positions, remote education responsibilities with their own children, or learning new online technology to complete their studies. The MassBay Meal Scholarship Program can help ease student’s financial burdens, while providing access to nutritious food to help students focus on their studies and reach their academic goals.

WellelseysGotPets.com

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Filed Under: Animals, Food, Fundraising, MassBay

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Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club grant applications due Feb. 1, 2021

January 6, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club (WHJWC) grant applications will close on Feb. 1, 2021. The Club awarded grants of over $60,000 in 2020, focusing on the needs of vulnerable populations during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2021 Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club grant application is available here. Following the grant review process, applicants will receive written notification of the committee’s decision by the end of May 2021, regardless of whether they are awarded a grant or not. Particular emphasis is placed on those programs that have a significant impact on the Wellesley community.

If you have any questions about the Grant Program, please contact the WHJWC at:  [email protected]

Applications must be received or postmarked by Feb. 1, 2021.

Here are some examples of grants awarded by the WHJWC:

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Clubs, Fundraising, Volunteering

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley

Shocking stats spurred Wellesley High student to launch breast cancer awareness club

December 29, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley High School senior Sarah Howland says the fact that the cause of more than 70% of breast cancer cases is unexplained was among the reasons she decided to start a club called Protect Our Breasts.

whs breast cancer stickers“That was really shocking and concerning to hear, especially because I had never heard anything like that before,” says Howland, who came across the numbers while taking part in a Harvard Medical School summer program. “Education surrounding breast cancer, and the types of things people can do to avoid it, are quite nonexistent unless you go searching for it. I can’t recall much education about breast cancer in sex-ed class or any science classes, so I wanted to start this club to spread more awareness and help educate as many as I can.”

The WHS Protect Our Breasts club, which now has 15 members, is a chapter of the original club started at Umass Amherst.

The club’s purpose is to raise awareness of the non-genetic causes of breast cancer, and the students recently started a fundraiser by selling stickers, which you can order via an online form or by scanning QR code if you come across any of the club’s flyers.

The club has also reached out to local businesses to see if they’d be interested in carrying the stickers in their stores. If interested in participating, please send email to [email protected]

All net proceeds will be donated to The Ellie Fund, a Needham-based non-profit that provides assistance to breast cancer patients residing in or receiving treatment in Massachusetts.

Running the club in the hybrid learning environment has been “surprisingly easier than I thought it would be,” Howland says. Meeting via Zoom instead of booking a physical room has simplified things, not to mention that students don’t need to worry about travel arrangements. The club generally meets once a month, and hopes to have some sort of socially distanced year-end celebration.


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Filed Under: Fundraising, Health, Wellesley High School

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Village Table in Wellesley is a loaves-and-fishes story

December 22, 2020 by Deborah Brown 2 Comments

In the basement of an historic Wellesley church that can trace its history back to Puritan times, a modern and spacious industrial kitchen hums with activity. Volunteers, masked up and socially distant, work together under the direction of Gary Arthur, a Wellesley Village Church member with 17 years’ experience managing food services at large industrial kitchens. Like a well-oiled machine, group members work at their stations to prepare and package hundreds of healthy and delicious meals that will be distributed to food insecure recipients in locations from Wellesley to the Greater Boston area.

Village Table, Wellesley
Village Table volunteers put together meals in Wellesley Village Church’s commercial kitchen. Photo credit: GA

The feeding program is called “Village Table” at Wellesley Village Church, and it was started in the church’s fully licensed commercial kitchen in response to the rise in food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic. “People are hungry,” Arthur says, “and they’re getting in food lines. Food insecurity is right at the top of the list of problems for so many. But we can do something about it.”

It’s been a pretty big something. Already over 1,000 meals per month are going out the door. Included in that number are ongoing donations to the Community Fridges program in Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and Roslindale; Family Promise Metrowest; Food for Free in Cambridge; A Place to Turn in Natick; and food pantries both here in Wellesley and beyond.

In addition, over Thanksgiving a group sponsored and delivered hot meals, clothing, and personal items to over 300 people on “Methadone Mile” in Boston, a one-mile stretch of Massachusetts Avenue. There, volunteers served those struggling with problems that may include nutritional deficit and/or hunger; addiction; being underhoused; loss of community of origin; and mental illness.

Village Table, Wellesley
Teriyaki chicken skewers, prepped for inclusion in Village Table meals. Photo credit, GA

On a mission

Essential to the mission of Village Table is maintaining the dignity of every individual. “We don’t want anyone to feel underprivileged or feel like they have to self-identify as needy. We really try to minimize shame,” Arthur says. It’s all about looking at food need through a lens of community. If one person benefits from food security, that doesn’t mean that person is unaffected by the food insecurity of others. “Need is something that affects the entire community,” he says.

To that end, Village Table food is anything but hastily slapped-together rations. Meals are nutritious and delicious, prepped and packaged with love by volunteers committed to the goal of helping others. Teriyaki chicken skewers on udon noodle salad is one example of the kind of restaurant-quality meals Village Table provides. Roasted lemon chicken, with simmered farro and vegetables is another. Meals are put together in two separate 3-hour cooking sessions, then packaged for delivery in a third session. Distribution is handled by a combination of Wellesley volunteers  and those from the Greater Boston community who load up their vehicles and shepherd the meals out to where they’re needed. We’re talking over  a thousand meals per month, and that’s just since the inception of the program in fall 2020.

“We officially got going in September for the pilot.” Arthur explains. “We got funding together and we started doing it. October was our first operation. We planned for 600 meals.”  But in a loaves-and-fishes scenario, additional donations meant the group was able to stretch their resources and reach that 1k meals milestone,  all without sacrificing portion size or quality.

Coincidence? I think not

Village Table, Wellesley
Gary Arthur, Wellesley Village Table

Providence seemingly went to work to reach this point. Three years ago, Arthur and his wife Carmen Suen moved into Wellesley along with their two children, who they enrolled in their neighborhood public elementary school. The family found their way to Village Church, felt comfortable there, and joined the congregation.

Arthur just so happened to have a lifetime of experience in industrial food service. “I’ve been managing food services at large industrial kitchens for 17 years. U Chicago. Notre Dame.” Perhaps his largest-scale gig was at Texas A&M University, where he was part of the team that fulfilled delivery  of 30,000 meals a day at 41 on-campus locations. Then an opportunity at MIT brought the family to the Boston area, which in turn led to Arthur self-starting a new venture. Once COVID hit, that project was put temporarily on hold. “I realized God may be saying that wasn’t my path right now,” he says.

Once that epiphany hit, things started coming together with Village Table. Fast.

Head Pastor Rev. Dr. Sarah Butter was all in with the idea of using the church’s commercial kitchen to help serve the greater good. “We live in a hungry world. People are hungry physically and spiritually, and hungry for care and community. Village Table emerged at just the right time, with just the right leadership, to work at the intersection of these hungers. Volunteers and recipients alike are fed by the process of shopping, cooking, packaging, and delivering meals to any in need of a bit, or bite, of care. It’s a marvelous embodiment of love alive in community, in real time, in real ways. I’m grateful for Gary’s vision and the contagious energy that has given birth to this ministry that feeds so many people in so many ways.”

Indeed, there is much gratitude to be parceled out. Arthur credits the Foundation for MetroWest for the non-profit’s recent $5,000 grant to support the work of Village Table. He also thanks New England Country Mart, a wholesaler as well as a direct-to-consumer grocery delivery platform that provides fresh premium produce to restaurants, institutions, and grocers. “Country Mart provides us with a lot of food,” Arthur says.

Wellesley Village Church
Wellesley Village Church, Central St.

How to volunteer

There’s no question that as Village Table increases its reach, more volunteers will be needed for help with shopping, food sourcing, gardening, cooking, cleaning, distribution, marketing, grant-writing, and more. But right now, due to COVID concerns, the volunteering is limited to a small group of church members. The hope is that in the near future, anyone with the time and the heart to serve will be invited to participate.

For now, please instead consider a monetary donations to Village Table.

“There’s enough love in this town to make a difference for hungry people. That’s the part I love,” Arthur says.

Keep Village Table close to your heart right now

It would be an omission of note to leave out a recent tragic turn of events that has affected Gary Arthur and his family. Our hearts go out to Gary as he mourns the sudden death of his 44-year-old son Michael David, who was shot and killed last week during a robbery at the store where he was working in Portland, Ore.

While this story was written prior to this tragedy, Gary’s pastor, Rev. Sarah Butter, on behalf of Wellesley Village Church, invites donations to the Village Table in memory of Michael David Arthur.

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Filed Under: Churches, COVID-19, Food, Fundraising, Volunteering

Wellesley Service League grateful to be part of holiday cheer

December 19, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The members of the Wellesley Service League (WSL) have completed their goal of spreading seasonal cheer during the volunteer organization’s yearly Holiday Giving Tree initiative. Chairs Angela Kenny and Carol Morrow said, “…it took a veritable village of volunteer sleigh drivers, elf packagers and decorators, holiday shoppers, list checkers and messengers, and community well-wishers” to ensure that all gift donations were ready to go to participating families.

Wellesley Youth Commission Director Maura Renzella took over from there, another partner in the long-standing tradition that adds to the excitement of the season for everyone involved.

 

Wellesley Service League, Holiday Giving Tree
Wellesley Service League, Holiday Giving Tree

 

Wellesley Service League, Holiday Giving Tree
Wellesley Service League Holiday Giving Tree volunteers are ready to roll.

 

Wellesley Service League, Holiday Giving Tree
Wellesley Service League, Holiday Giving Tree — it’s a wrap.

More on the Wellesley Service League

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Clubs, Fundraising, Holidays, Volunteering

Online holiday auction to benefit A Better Chance in Wellesley

December 15, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

A Better Chance, Wellesley

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Filed Under: Education, Embracing diversity, Fundraising, Volunteering

Wellesley charity round-up: Wrapping with Kids Backing Kids; Postcomers package goods for women in need

December 14, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Our round-up of the latest Wellesley, Mass., charity news:

Wrapping with Kids Backing Kids

Some 40 Kids Backing Kids volunteers on Dec. 5 wrapped over 400 gifts that will make their way to 85 kids in need, and they were back at it again on Dec. 12 to wrap gifts for 80-plus additional children.

KBK Gift Drive Coordinators
Olivia Rodrigue (WHS ’22) and Stephanos Maramaldi (WHS ’22) – Holiday Gift Drive co-coordinators

 

Cohen Faily wrapping gifts-1
Cohen Family wrapping gifts: Gina Cohen, Chloe Cohen (WHS ’21), Adam Cohen (KBK Board Member), and Siena Cohen (WHS ’23)

 

WHS students wrapping gifts KBK
WHS students wrapping gifts: Hannah Cronin (WHS ’23), Katie Passanisi (WHS ’23), Valerie Passanisi (WHS ’21)

 

Postcomers women package up essentials

Wellesley’s Postcomers Club, an organization of women from Wellesley who have been getting together for over 50 years for fun and friendship, conceived the idea of helping other women during their regular Friday morning walk on the Brook Path. Their conversation had morphed into a discussion of making the most of the holiday season while observing COVID-19 protocols. By the end of their walk, the group determined that they would find a good way to help needy women celebrate the season with the assurance that other women were thinking of them.

postcomers packages

The recipient organizations have been helping Boston women to alleviate problems with homelessness and health care. One of the organizations, Health Care Without Walls (formerly Women of Means), was founded several years ago by Dr. Roseann Means. Seventeen volunteer doctors and one physician’s assistant tend to the health needs of countless women with few personal resources. The women live at various shelters in and around Boston. The doctors are specialists in internal medicine pediatrics, family medicine, gynecology, dermatology, emergency care, and psychiatry. They spend hundreds of hours dispensing free medical care. Since this organization started working with the women, the number of visits to emergency rooms and returning hospital patients among this population has been tremendously reduced.

Two more organizations working with Health Care Without Walls are the Women’s Lunch Place for women, and Bridges to Elders, feeding women, 60 or older. All these groups have received the contributions and gifts of warm outerwear and personal necessities, which were packaged by the Wellesley Postcomers. The entire project was led by Pam Grignaffini.

The Postcomers organization is looking forward to resuming its in-person activities, including parties, luncheons, and day trips in post-COVID-19 times. Postcomers will welcome new members when they resume in-person activities.

wellesley postcomers
Volunteer packers, left to right,
Sarah Foley, Postcomers President
Marsha Welburn
Pat Dacey
Charlotte Trubiani
Prissy Lampert
Sue Ahlgren, Postcomers Vice-President
Susan Gannon
Pam Grignaffini

 

(Information submitted by Phyllis Glazerman)

Babson holiday drive-thru supports Wellesley Food Pantry

A low-key holiday wonderland drive-thru on the Babson College campus this past week provided a bit of seasonal cheer while collecting goods for the Wellesley Food Pantry.

Babson holiday drive


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Filed Under: Fundraising, Health

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