The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our everyday lives in a way most children and adults have never experienced. In this seminar, parents and caregivers are invited to discuss how the “new normal” has impacted our children’s mental health. Dr. Swack will then provide simple tips for activating our body’s natural calming reflex in under five minutes. Find community with other caregivers, learn coping strategies, and increase well-being for you and the children in your lives.
Wednesday November 2 & Wednesday November 9, 7-9pm
Use Newton history to inspire handmade holiday cards and candles at our fun maker event. View historic greeting cards from our Archives and candle advertisements from the one-time factory run by the Jackson family at the Jackson Homestead.
Fee, $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 10 and up, and Historic Newton members, for materials and refreshments, including a seasonal punch.
Bring your pumpkins to Newton’s annual Pumpkin Smash at City Hall on Nov. 5, the Saturday after Halloween, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Why put your pumpkin in with your yard waste when it’s much more fun to smash it?
This family friendly event takes our orange pumpkins and turns them “green.” All our smashed pumpkins will be composted by Black Earth Compost (our curbside composting partner), thus reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions and creating a valuable amendment for our soils.
You can fling, toss and smash your pumpkin in all sorts of ways, including with smashing machines made by the Newton LigerBots, the high school robotics team.
Pre-registration is encouraged but onsite registration will be available for the Pumpkin Smash which will be held rain or shine.
We wanted to let you know that we have rescheduled the Albemarle Parking Party to take place Thursday 4/21 from 7:00-10:00 AM on Albemarle Road near Gath Pool. (Rain date is Friday 4/22).
This will be an opportunity to learn more about the head out angled parking proposed in the Albemarle Traffic Calming and Bike Lane Project, and try it out in your own car! . Please note we cannot provide a car for you to use, so please bring your own, or come with a friend!
Celebrate Earth Day with a festival on Sunday, April 24 from 1-4pm outside of City Hall! With electric vehicles and entertaining performances, bike rides and bees, ice cream and info on home energy improvements, we’ll have something for everyone to mark the day.
Celebrate safe biking in Newton at the Bike Rodeo hosted by Newton Parks and Recreation. MA Safe Routes to Schools instructors will teach and review bike riding skills. Volunteers from Bike Newton will help teach fun stations including knowing signs and hand signals, how to care for your bike, and more.
The Bike Rodeo event will be on Sunday May 1st at Newton South High School and space is currently available for children in grades 2 – 6. The Bike Rodeo is for children who live in Newton or attend Newton Public Schools, have their own bike, and are comfortable riding independently. Helmets must be worn and an adult must attend.
For questions, please contact Channon Ames at [email protected] When responding, please be aware that the Massachusetts Secretary of State has determined that most email is public record and therefore cannot be kept confidential.
On Sunday, May 1st, the Becca Schmill Foundation will present “Social Media and Our Youth: A VIRTUAL Mental Health Forum,” at 2:00 pm EDT. Please join us for this free event which includes two consecutive and informative panels featuring nationally recognized and esteemed researchers, child/adolescent mental health professionals, teachers, and youth advocates. Panelists will discuss the significant evidence linking social media use to the skyrocketing increases in rates of clinical level depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and eating disorder cases among adolescents, the impact screen overuse is having on children’s ability to focus, and what changes are needed to reverse these trends. There will also be an opportunity for Q&A at each session.
This mental health forum follows on the heels of President Biden’s State of the Union statement, in which he acknowledged the harms of social media. Furthermore, in the pre-speech Fact Sheet, the White House states “..[T]here is mounting evidence that social media is harmful to many kids’ and teens’ mental health, well-being, and development. As the Surgeon-General has said, ‘…[T]hese tools can pit us against each other, reinforce negative behaviors like bullying and exclusion, and undermine the safe and supportive environments young people need and deserve.’“
Former world top ten player and Massachusetts native, Tim Mayotte, is overseeing Newton’s city-wide tennis-in-the-parks programs.
Registration is open for summer camp, after-school and weekend junior tennis programs. Beginners to advanced players – red, orange, green and yellow ball classes.
Schedules, registration: www.newtontmtennis.com.
Locations: Angier, Warren, Newton North, Newton South.
With the upcoming school breaks, The Newton Food Pantry wants to make sure that anyone experiencing food insecurity knows how to get help, even when school is not in session. Two easy options are the Newton Food Pantry and the Newton Community Freedge.
The Newton Food Pantry is now serving over 1,800 Newton residents at our renovated City Hall basement location, 1000 Commonwealth Avenue. Clients are able to shop for the items they want and need, selecting from a variety of dry goods, fresh produce, dairy, proteins, personal care items and culturally-relevant foods. Walk-in shopping hours are every Wednesday from 3pm to 7pm.
Shoppers at the Newton Food Pantry must be Newton residents (or they can be Newton-based college students or staff), provide proof of residency and complete a New Client Registration Form, found here.
The Newton Community Freedge is at 420 Watertown St. The Freedge is a free refrigerator & pantry stocked by community and local businesses in the parking lot of Central Drapery & Dry Cleaner. It can be accessed 24 hours a day by anyone. No forms or Newton residency required.
Additional information about the Newton Food Pantry and Freedge can be found, translated in 4 languages, on our Get Help page.
