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Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Wellesley Turkey Trot ’23 registration opens

October 2, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Turkey Trot returns to Linden Square this Thanksgiving morning with a 5K run, plus a fun run for kids 10 and under, all in support of good local causes. Registration has opened.

This Wellesley tradition kicks off at 8am on Thursday, Nov. 23, with 5K race participants following a course from Linden Square that traverses through Wellesley Square and the Wellesley College campus before returning to Linden Square. Awards are given to individuals and teams, with special awards to the fastest Wellesley High students and alums.

The Hannah Randolph Fun Run for kids starts at 8:45am in the back of the parking lot near CVS.

The event is always a great way to see friends and burn off a few calories before filling up on Thanksgiving Day.

wellesley turkey trot
Wellesley Turkey Trot

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Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Holidays, Outdoors, Sports

Linden Square, Wellesley

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Charles River School

Jimmy Fund walkers take to Boston Marathon course through Wellesley

October 1, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Thanks and congrats to all who took part in Sunday’s Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to raise big bucks for research by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Participants, including those from Wellesley, could choose to go 5K, 10K, half marathon, or marathon distances along the Boston Marathon route that goes through Wellesley.

Those covering half of the course started at Wellesley High School.

Wellesley Media was on the scene at the school, and spoke to participants about why they were walking.


Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley
Details, Wellesley

Wellesley Spelling Bee switching back to the fall; registration opens

September 26, 2023 by admin Leave a Comment

Registration has opened for the annual Wellesley Spelling Bee, which returns to a fall schedule this year with a Nov. 8 date (7pm). The 34th edition of the bee, a big fundraiser for the Wellesley Education Foundation, is slated to take place at Wellesley High School.

Registration ($500) is open to teams of three, a few dozen of which compete each year for the trophy.  Teams consist of school mates, business colleagues, nonprofit members, public officials, and friends. You can also sponsor a team if spelling in public’s not your thing.

This past April, the Hardy PTO Beehives won the event, with the correct spelling of “zeusaphone” securing victory.

Wellesley spelling bee
The Hardy PTO Beehives celebrate their spring 2023 win. Photo credit: George Roberts

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Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Education

Captain Marden's, Wellesley

An hour in a Wellesley garden: the dahlias are in full bloom and they’re fabulous, dahling

September 26, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

To enter Wendy Pickering Bedrosian’s North 40 garden plot, I must first negotiate the tangle of chicken wire fencing. She pulls aside the barrier, and I’m allowed to pass. “I make this a fortress agains the bunnies,” she says. The treasure Wendy is protecting: over 400 dahlia tubers that throw up thousands of gorgeous flowers every year.

Wellesley dahlias
Wendy Bedrosian plants over 400 dahlia tubers each year in her North 40 garden plot.

Part hobby, part obsession, and part charitable endeavor, Wendy has been tending her 85ft. x 30 ft. Weston Road plot for over ten years. It started out innocently enough as a vegetable garden that she intended to work with her kids. Turns out the kids didn’t like gardening so, Henny Penny-like, she sighed and planted and harvested on her own. That’s the hobby part of the story. When she added a few dahlias about six years ago, she fell in love with the wide range of colors and varieties she could find. So the next year she put in a few more dahlias, then dozens more, then hundreds. That’s the obsession part of the story. “Now here we are and there are very few vegetables,” she shrugs.

The charitable part of the story is the best part. While the dahlias are in full bloom, which is mid-summer until the first frost, Wendy sells bouquets of at least a dozen stems of various sizes and color, along with some filler, for a minimum donation of $15. It should come as no surprise that a fancy florist would charge almost $100 for such bounty. Wendy harvests almost daily, and she makes sure every bloom is in peak condition. With names like Double Jill, Last Dance, Mojo, and Tailspin, there can be no disappointment in her choices. You will get gorgeous blooms. Full stop. Contact Wendy here to arrange for your own bouquet of dahlias, and for pickup details.

Wellesley dahlias
Pollinators are big fans of Wendy’s open-center dahlia varieties.

Last year, dahlia proceeds garnered more than $1,000 for two different charities. This year, Wendy is on track to $3,000 in donations, maybe more, since most people give more that the minimum donation, “which has been so generous,” she says.

Wendy switches the charity every week or two. This year she so far she’s donated to Wellesley ABC, and the Justice Health Initiative. Her most recent  efforts are going to raise money for a young woman who suffered a spinal cord injury in a cycling accident last year. Those funds will go toward buying expensive adaptive equipment not covered by insurance.

She doesn’t have any specific fundraising goals. There’s no giant novelty thermometer outside her North 40 plot, tracking philanthropic progress. “Whatever it does, it does,” she says.

Once the frost hits, the work continues. Wendy digs up the dahlia tubers each year, and they overwinter in an unfinished part of her basement that stays cold enough for the dormancy period they require. Last year that chore took place around the third week of October. One year the party kept going until Nov. 7, but that’s unusual.

Wellesley dahlias
This beauty came home with me to keep things cheerful on the kitchen windowsill.

Wendy sources her tubers from a lot of small farms, and also has gotten involved in dahlia Facebook communities. “I’ve made dahlia friends from all over the country. We do a lot of trading, which is really a lot of fun. Some of them are really rare and hard to get. It’s like collecting anything.”

Which is to say, an obsession. Once the charitable part of the growing season has past, she’s back on the hunt, scouting around online for coveted varieties. There’s always room for one more tuber in her dahlia beds. And Wendy doesn’t play favorites. “They’re like children, you don’t have a favorite one,” she laughs.

If you love the idea of introducing a few beautiful “flower children” into your home while supporting a worthy cause, contact Wendy for details. The dahlia stems I picked up last week are still going strong and were, of course, well worth the nominal donation.

More gardening stories

An hour in a Wellesley garden—we take a ride on the brand-new Morses Pond weed harvester

An hour in a Wellesley garden—it’s all organic on this country estate

An hour in a Wellesley garden—it’s up to us to eradicate the dreaded garlic mustard

 

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Environment, Gardens

Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic

Pippi the black lab celebrates book launch with friends at Centennial Park

September 24, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Pippi the black lab, local sensation, and social media influencer, has put pen to paw to once again to add to her body of work as an author. In her previous picture book, Tails with Gig, Pippi regaled readers with stories of life growing up as a pandemic puppy. In her engaging, witty, (and opinionated) style, Pippi burst onto the literary scene in 2022, silencing critics who suggested she was just another pretty face.

Pippi the black lab, Wellesley
Group picture at Pippi’s book launch party at Centennial Park. Attendees seemed to appreciate the importance of the event, posing like supermodels for the shot.

With Pippi Rocks!, the author has moved beyond memoir and into the historical genre. Her new dog-published work reflects a maturity that readers might expect from a seasoned writer after an entire year of reflection. (Pippi sighed that it’s seemed more like seven years to her.)

“My book is about the Babson Boulders. You might remember hearing Gig and me talk about them,” the author said in a Facebook post. “They are the big rocks in Dogtown in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Roger Babson, my relative (through Gig, of course) founded Babson College but more important, he hired unemployed stone masons during the Depression. They chiseled inscriptions in those boulders with sayings such as “Help Mother,” “Work,” “Get a Job,” and others. I chose my favorites and then dictated stories to Gig about the sentiments expressed in the mottos.”

Along with Pippi’s dear human  friends Gig Babson, who provided secretarial services, and Kathy Madonald, who created the book’s wonderful illustrations, Pippi threw a launch party over the weekend at Centennial Park in Wellesley. Guests dressed up, mingled, and enjoyed dog ice cream dixie cups and peanut butter pumpkin dog biscuits.

Photos by Beth Hinchliffe.

Pippi the black lab, Wellesley
Gig Babson and Pippi in front of the sign announcing the publication of Pippi Rocks.

 

Pippi the black lab, Wellesley
Katherine Macdonald who illustrated the book (left), and Gig Babson,  who wrote the book “taking dictation” from Pippi, with a bag of homemade treats for humans and dogs.

Net proceeds from Pippi Rocks! will go to Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, where Pippi was treated during an illness last winter.

Pippi Rocks! can be purchased at Wellesley Books, and other booksellers.


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About Katherine L. Babson, Jr. and Katherine K. Macdonald

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Books, Charity/Fundraising, Humor

Frans' Flowers

Wellesley Food Pantry needs your help for a successful fundraiser

September 21, 2023 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Food Pantry (WFP) is participating in Three Squares New England’s Ride for Food on Oct. 1.  This event is the largest fundraising opportunity of the year.  The Wellesley Food Pantry has not had a fundraiser since before COVID, but now they are asking for your support in order to continue to provide supplemental and emergency food assistance to Wellesley residents in need.

Wellesley Food Pantry
Wellesley Food Pantry’s Ride for Food team, 2017

The Food Pantry has a team of 5 Wellesley residents who are riding to raise funds for the pantry, and now they need your support with a donation. Please consider donating to one of the riders by clicking on their page and making a donation of your choice.

Presenting the Wellesley Food Pantry Ride for Food Team

Liz Grover Harrington
https://ride.threesquaresne.org/fundraiser/4829251

Terry Moy
https://ride.threesquaresne.org/fundraiser/4916471

Peter Lull
https://ride.threesquaresne.org/fundraiser/4724689

Elizabeth Cook
https://ride.threesquaresne.org/fundraiser/4813912

Kelty White
https://ride.threesquaresne.org/fundraiser/4933700

The Food Pantry welcomes more individuals to join their team.  Participants choose to ride 25 or 50 miles, complete a 5-mile walk, or create your own virtual fundraising event. To register click here WFP Team Page  to join the team.

On a mission

To fulfill the Wellesley Food Pantry’s mission of offering healthy, high-quality food choices, the volunteer organization spends thousands of dollars each month to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, eggs, cheese, and more.

“Our donations are down significantly while prices have risen dramatically so we have had to cut back on purchases of fresh produce, which we prioritize to provide healthy food options,” Wellesley Food Pantry president Peter Lull said. “We also have seen an increase in the need for our service, with nearly 40% of our clients in the senior category, which is a bit distressing.”

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Food, Health

Wellesley Rotary, Dinner On Us

Tickets available now for Wellesley Rotary’s “Dinner on Us” fundraiser

September 11, 2023 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Rotary Club’s “Dinner on Us” annual fundraiser is aiming to raise major funds to help fight food insecurity. Food insecurity exists right here among those who live, work, and go to school in Wellesley. Rotary members want those in need  to know that there are resources to help them and their families through these difficult times.
Rotary Club, Wellesley

“Dinner on Us” tickets are available until November 3—every entry bought helps end food insecurity in Wellesley.

The drawing will take place on Nov. 14, 2023.

Participating restaurants

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Food

Don’t miss the Wellesley fun—Sidewalk Sale; Crafts for Kids; Car Wash fundraiser; Fiske Western Round-Up

September 6, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

If you love a bargain, hit the Linden Square sidewalk—Sept. 7-10

 

Linden Square, Wellesley
Photo credit: Linden Square

The Linden Square Sidewalk Sale is back Sept. 7 – 10. If you love browsing the sale racks and finding a great deal, then this is the event for you. From kids clothes and toys to women’s fashion, you’ll be sure to snag a great bargain. Deals up to 70% off.

 

 

 


Celebrate Wonderful Wellesley with Crafts for Kids—Sept. 9

Wonderful Wellesley brings you another free Crafts for Kids event in two locations on Saturday, Sept. 9, 11am–1pm.

Don’t miss FREE fun for kids ages 3-12. Activities vary by the two locations:

Linden Square Courtyard

  • Birdhouse painting, paper butterflies, fun with clay, noodle monstahs

Wellesley Square, Central Street by iCode

  • Mobile making, paper and fabric butterflies and flowers

While supplies last. First come, first served.

Thanks to Clever Hand Gallery and Wellesley Free Library for bringing their creativity and talents.


Wellesley High Cross Country Team Car Wash—Sept. 10

 

Please support the Wellesley High School Girls and Boys Cross Country Team annual car wash on Sunday, September 10. The team has nearly 125 athletes, and this is its biggest fundraiser.

DATE: Sunday September 10
TIME: 11am – 3pm
LOCATION: 148 Linden Street (across from Linden Store)

All proceeds benefit the WHS Girls and Boys track and field teams.


Schofield School Shoppers Corner, opening day—Sept. 13

Shoppers Corner, Wellesley’s go-to spot that sells new and gently used clothing and accessories from infant through adult, will open on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 8:30am-12:15pm. Popular brands, reasonable prices, and eco-friendly. Shoppers Corner is entirely parent-volunteer run. All proceeds benefit the Schofield PTO.  Located in the lower level of the school, entry to the rear of the playground.

Wellesley Schofield School Shoppers Corner
Schofield School Shoppers Corner, 2022

SHOPPERS CORNER DAYS: most Wednesdays, 8:30am-12:15pm; first Saturday of the month, 9am-11am, throughout the school year

LOCATION: 27 Cedar St., Wellesley, MA

Walk-to-School day—Sept. 20

Wellesley’s first monthly Walk-to-School day is Wednesday, Sept. 20. All school-aged families are encouraged to take part by walking, biking or scootering to school.

The day is focused on safe, active travel to schools. Join with other families in your neighborhood and walk or scooter together. Set up walking school buses or form a bike train and ride to school. Please remember to practice correct bike safety and always wear a helmet when biking.


Wellesley Square Parents Day Out—Sept. 22 & 23

 

The Wellesley Square Merchants’ Association is getting ready for two big days of Parents Day Out, a time when everyone can enjoy specials offered by participating merchants in the Square. On Friday, Sept. 22 and Saturday, Sept. 23, many of the area’s stores will offer discounts and deals, so make sure you stop by and shop, dine, and enjoy Wellesley Square.


Fiske Western Round-Up—Sept. 30

Swagger over the Fiske Elementary School on Sept. 30 for the Goldrush Raffle, Cowboy Strut, Cookie Corral, rides, crafts, food, and more. (Tickets for activities and food are cash only.) All are welcome at the annual Western Round-Up—the Fiske community is all about hospitality and making sure that everyone has a good time. The Round-up is rain or shine, and is a family-event. No dropping off kids, please.

Fiske Western Round-Up, Wellesley
Fiske Western Round-Up, 2022

EVENT: Fiske Elementary School Western Round-Up
DATE: Saturday, Sept. 30
TIME: 11am-3pm


Craft Beer Oktoberfest—Oct. 5

Wellesley Historical Society is kicking off the fall with its 5th Annual Craft Beer Oktoberfest on Thursday, Oct. 5, 6pm-9pm, on the Sunset Terrace at the Wellesley Country Club.

The event is a chance to connect with friends new and old while sampling local craft beers accompanied by pretzels, sliders, pizza, and more!

Tickets: $55 per person, includes 6 sample pours and food.

Wellesley Historical Society, craft beer tasting event
Wellesley Historical Society, craft beer tasting event, 2021

 

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Entertainment, Fiske Elementary School, Kids, Shopping

Wellesley residents ready for Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk

September 6, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Seventeen Wellesley residents are slated to participate in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk on Sunday, Oct. 1. The annual event annual event raises funds to support all forms of adult and pediatric care and cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Among Wellesley residents making the big trek along the marathon course: Meredith and Mark Lepper, Reina Mercado, Elizabeth Rosen, Tina Wang, Joan Hanania, Karen Granoff, Stephen Clarke, Zach Galvin, Liza Near, William Near, and Elizabeth Buchbinder.

The Leppers began doing the walk in support of their son Ben, who is in his 4th year of remission from pediatric leukemia and is happily “acting like a normal 22-year-old” while attending Holy Cross, Meredith says.

The Leppers are taking part in their 5th Jimmy Fund Walk, choosing the route that starts in Wellesley and ends in Boston, in an effort to “make a difference and help other people,” Meredith says. She also now volunteers at Dana-Farber to help pass on knowledge gained during her son’s treatment and Dana-Farber’s support for her family. “People don’t know how pervasively treatment affects your life,” says Meredith (fundraising page).

As Meredith learned during Ben’s treatment, even when patients go home from the hospital, home is different, and this was especially true for the Leppers during the pandemic given their son’s immunocompromised state. The little things that Dana-Farber did, like providing art supplies to Ben’s sister when her outside exposure was limited, have stayed with the Leppers, who now marvel at how healthy Ben looks and feels.

The goal for organizers this year for the 35th edition of the event is to raise $9 million.

Participants have the flexibility to choose from four distance options: 5K walk (from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Longwood Medical Campus), 10K walk (from Newton), Half Marathon walk (from Wellesley), and Marathon walk (from Hopkinton). There’s also an option for participants to create their own route.

Check out the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk website for more on participating, volunteering, or donating.

Wellesley Jimmy Fund Walk


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Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising

Roll with the Wellesley Food Pantry “Ride for Food” team—sign up now

August 8, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Food Pantry will participate in 12th annual Three Squares New England’s Ride for Food on Sunday, October 1, at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham. The Food Pantry needs riders (or walkers) to sign up and help make this event a huge success.

Wellesley Food Pantry's participation in the Ride for Food
Wellesley Food Pantry’s Ride for Food team, 2017

The ride is for all levels and abilities. Riders must be 14 years of age or older. Participants may ride 25 or 50 miles; complete a 5-mile walk; or create their own virtual fundraising event. Light breakfast items, coffee, and snacks will be on hand at the starting point, along with water stops along the route. After the ride there will be a celebratory event at Noble & Greenough complete with food trucks, music, and fun for everyone.

The Food Pantry’s goal for this largest fundraising opportunity of the year is to raise $20K to support its 400+ Wellesley clients in need. Each event participant is required to set a minimum fundraising goal of $350. Organizers report that historically the average raised by individuals is $1,000. All participants who raise $1,250 will receive a unique bike jersey, designed by a young local artist. For the non-cyclists who hit that fundraising goal, there will be a fun and fashionable alternative to the jersey.

On a mission

To fulfill the Wellesley Food Pantry’s mission of offering healthy, high-quality food choices, the volunteer organization spends thousands of dollars each month to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, eggs, cheese, and more.

As inflation has risen, so have costs. Many of the Pantry’s clients are children, and nearly 40% of clients are seniors (aged 65+).

REGISTER for the Ride for Food and fundraise for the Wellesley Food Pantry Team.

DONATE to the Wellesley Food Pantry team.

QUESTIONS: contact manager@wellesleyfoodpantry.org

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Food, Volunteering

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