Arlington Charities
Last updated 09/23/2002
Are you looking for a local (Arlington) charity to support? Here is a list of local charities suggested by Arlington list members. Each meets the following criteria:
If you'd like to suggest another charity for this page, please e-mail me the following information:
David Coletta, Arlington List Manager
Fine print: no representation is made on this page about whether contributions to any of these organizations are tax-deductible. Ensuring that your contributions are tax-deductible is your responsibility. However, to help you in that effort, some entries here link to the corresponding entry in GuideStar, a database of all 850,000 IRS-recognized nonprofit organizations. Use of GuideStar is free.
I'm a weekly volunteer at the Alliance, doing the morning chores of feeding and cleaning and hanging with the fur guys. The core value of the organization is to prevent animal homelessness by making sure animals are spayed/neutered; the South Boston clinic run by AfA offers low-cost services. The Alliance is in its second Arlington home, now in the heights, previously in the center, and runs various fund-raising events in and around Arlington (recent yard sale in the center, upcoming walk around the Res., Town Day booth, etc.). The shelter chores are done by a corps of about 25 volunteers; two staff members handle the adoptions and other administrative chores. See our shelter cats here. Needs: Clinic: Kitty litter, copy paper, paper towels, toilet paper, 60 watt light bulbs, distilled water, either Hills Science Diet or Nutro cat, kitten, puppy and dog food (wet and dry), post-it notes, tall kitchen garbage bags, stamps (first class postage), cruelty free dishwashing and laundry soaps. Shelter: Kitty litter, copy paper, paper towels, toilet paper, Brita and/or Pur water filters, Nutro or Hills Science Diet (just cat and kitten food), tall kitchen garbage bags, first class postage, cruelty free dishwashing and laundry soaps. Donations of funds are crucial year-round to AfA's programs--as are great homes for our animals.
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My current favorite is the Arlington Educational Enrichment Fund. They sponsor inspired teachers to carry out wonderful projects in our public schools. The fund has certainly helped make some wonderful things happen in the classroom that otherwise wouldn't. Paul Schlichtman says:
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This is a great program for children who have lost a parent (and the surviving parent). There are about six groups, and each group meets twice a month. The children meet with volunteers and the other children to discuss their loss, play games, do art projects, etc. The adults meet separately in a support-group format. The kids love being able to meet with other kids who have lost a parent (or in some cases sibling). In contrast to, say, a school setting, they don't feel "different" or stigmatized here. They are with other kids and volunteers who understand their needs and are there to help them. The Children's Room meets in the basement of the First Baptist Church, which gives them free space, but it needs a bigger space (ideally a house). The current space is too small, and they have to share it with the church, which creates some scheduling limitations (there is a long waiting list of program participants). I believe they are the only program of its kind in the Boston area, and they are located right here in Arlington. (There is a similar program in Portland, ME). I have been a volunteer there for the last two years and give financial donations as well. Having lost a parent as a kid, I believe it is a very good program, and wish I had been able to participate in something similar. It is very responsibly run, and their board includes such luminaries as Phyllis Silverman of Mass. General--one of the foremost experts on children and grief.
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The Dallin Museum, Arlington's municipal art museum (established by Town Meeting in spring of 1995, doors opened Town Day 1998) has been rapidly growing in collections, activities, and presence; in every way except financially and spatially. Three years ago it was granted 501 (c) 3 status. The mission of the Dallin Museum: to collect, acquire, exhibit, and increase public awareness of the works of Cyrus E. Dallin (1861-1944), the great American sculptor who lived and worked in Arlington from 1900 to the end of his life. Dallin is the creator of Paul Revere, The Appeal to the Great Spirit, Massasoit, Anne Hutchinson, and The Menotomy Hunter, to list a few and only those in Massachusetts. Dallin deserves the kind of home/studio museum that his sculptor friends Daniel Chester French and Augustus St. Gaudens have been accorded elsewhere in New England. Arlington deserves the kind of notice this Museum will bring. The Museum is rapidly outgrowing the small space that the town allows it in the Jefferson Cutter House. A major capital campaign has always been anticipated. The Museum's growing needs make this more urgent. A permanent site for the Museum has always been in the plans, and paid staffing will be essential. In any case, the Museum will soon seek to raise a substantial endowment, and it will need both direct financial help as well as people to help find that help. Board meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at 7 pm, and the Exhibit and Communications Committee meets every Tuesday, at 7:30, at the Museum or in the Town Public Meeting Room downstairs. These meetings are open to the public in accord with the Open Meeting Law. I have been with the Dallin Museum for seven years, since shortly before it was created out of the old Cyrus E. Dallin Committee. Needs:
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Fidelity House is located on St. Agnes property but is open to the whole community. My husband, Paul, coached basketball - 5th to 8th grade teams - for about 12 years there. Both of our sons were on these teams and coached teams of their own. We are not members of the parish but feel that this organization does a tremendous amount of good for kids in the town. The gym and game rooms are in constant use after school and on the weekends from opening to closing. The staff works hard to make the place a safe place to be without making the kids feel that they are being monitored constantly. We have given them computers, a fairly new refrigerator, and a couple of TV sets as well as money over the years.
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My reason for contributing is that I believe there is a need for a teacher/classroom request fund. There are funds at the elementary and Middle school levels, but not for the High School academic departments. The group would like to help the classrooms function efficiently by fulfilling teacher requests for needed supplies. The requests are not luxury items, just simple things that will help the classroom run smoother (i.e., a three-hole punch, an extra calculator, or an electric pencil sharpener). I have children in the public school system (two at the high school). I believe that the town provides a great education to our children, but it is an ongoing struggle to keep up with educational budget demands. Contributing to this fund will take some of the burden off the teachers and help them focus on educating our children. This is a benefit to everyone.
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I have been so grateful to public libraries my whole life. Reading is a pastime, a hobby, a passion that is fed by our library. The Library allows me to explore ideas and interests as different as reading up on a place I'm going to visit to delving into a period of time that piques my fancy, whiling away away hours living vicariously someone else's life, or just plain having fun. The librarians are wonderful. I spoke to one about where to find some information on genealogical research and not only did she point out some great resources, but a few days later in the mail, she sent me some additional literature that she found in the files! It always was a beautiful building, and the new addition is fabulous. I served on the Permanent Town Building Committee during the final phase of construction and I know the care that went into making sure that it was done right! So I now sit on the Board of the Friends of the Library, donate money and books to the ongoing book sale and give new books to the rental collection. The money the Friends help raise goes to support the museum passes you can get at the library, books, newspapers, magazine subscriptions, tapes, videos as well as some software and material.
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A charity I'd like to suggest is Germaine Lawrence School, which I live right around the corner from. Paul Schlichtman says:
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The League of Women Voters, Arlington is the only organization in town that has consistently provided information about local candidates and issues since its founding 50 years ago. Each year, the organization studies one or two local issues in depth and presents it findings to the public through meetings and the Advocate. For example, the library renovation and the middle school can be traced to the initial work the League did to investigate these topics. This year the League added Civil Rights to our Program, and to monitor and report on the Res development in addition to the ABC Study implementation, Reeds' Brook, Mugar Property and Alewife area, Symmes Property. On the National level, the League is one of the supporters of the Free Air Time Campaign, which seeks to require broadcasters to devote more time to issues in the month before an election, and to provide a limited amount of free air time to qualified candidates so that citizens can judge candidates by the quality of their ideas instead of the size of their campaign war chests.. Currently air time is more expensive during the campaign season. The result is that incumbents and better funded candidates are much more likely to win elections. Each year, the LWV provides a candidate forum for voters to meet and hear candidates for local office speak, publishes a voter's guide for the public and provides the public with rides to the polls. On a local, state and national level the LWV remains committed to Voter Education and Voter Service that is non partisan. I have been a member of the league for nearly 25 years, have worked on studies, manned the Town Day booth, registered voters, given rides to the polls, participated in Candidates Night -- some years working behind the scenes and some years as a candidate. Being a member gave me the knowledge and courage to get involved in Town Politics and run for office. I have supported the League's efforts with both time and money, because I believe so deeply in educating the public on the issues and encouraging everyone to vote.
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I was president of the board of the Mystic River Watershed Association for two years and gave time (a lot) and money to the organization, which has its office in Arlington. I am no longer on the board but am still a member and still give money and occasional time. The organization is always short of money. It survives on a combination of small donations from individuals, some state money, and some foundation money. It has only three part time employees, all of whom give more than part time. It makes good use of volunteers. It does a great job advocating for the river, local ponds and waterways, and open green space in the watershed. Arlington is almost all in the Mystic River watershed. It has teamed with Tufts, which is also in the watershed, on various initiatives. Tufts hosts its website for free.
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The Sudanese Refugee group here in Arlington. Most of the formal organization is done by Lutheran Social Services of New England and St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Arlington, but the volunteers and donors encompass a much wider group of Arlingtonians. We have a Sudanese foster "child" (19 years old) living with us, and so are pretty heavily involved with the whole group. Before coming to the U.S. a little under 2 years ago, these guys (and a few girls) had spent most of their lives in a refugee camp in Kenya. They are the survivors of a couple of perilous treks on foot (first from Sudan to Ethiopia, then from Ethiopia to Kenya). Along the way, thousands of them died--either killed by the Northern Sudanese, starved, or killed by wild animals. Those that lived remained in the refugee camp until the U.N. gave up all hope of peaceably reuniting them with families (assuming the families were even alive). If the guys had gone back to Sudan, they would either be killed by the Northern Sudanese along the way, or conscripted into the war by the Southern Sudanese resistance (SPLA). So the U.S. State Dept. decided to re-settle some 3,000 of them to the U.S. About 20 or so of them are in Arlington--by far the largest single-town concentration in the Boston area. The reason is that St. Paul's Lutheran took this on as a special project, providing their parsonage as a group home and several members provided foster homes. Needs: Aside from financial needs for education, there are needs for volunteers (primarily but not exclusively tutors or foster parents).
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WAND is a national grassroots women's arms control and disarmament group. Formerly Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, we continue that emphasis while also focusing more broadly on the military budget as a whole. Our mission is to empower women to act politically to reduce militarism and violence and to redirect excessive military spending to unmet human and environmental needs. We have a Washington, DC political office and our field office is in Atlanta. We have a local Arlington WAND chapter, as well as chapters all over the country. There is a substantial list of Arlington people who are members and supporters.
As a staff person, and also the head of the
organization, I naturally think the presence of a national organization in
Arlington is interesting. (We have decided to keep our national office
outside of the Beltway in order to maintain perspective.) WAND is a 501C4
organization (the membership side and not tax deductible), and we have a
sister organization that is a 501C3 tax deductible educational
organization. We also have a political action committee for members only
that gives money to women running for Congress. We have 31 women now
serving in Congress we have helped elect and who support our issues of
arms control, disarmament and responsible military spending. |