The Owl admits that she is a bit of a scoffer at invented holidays–which, you might say, the vast majority of holidays are. I mean the “Hallmark holidays”– Valentine’s Day lost its history on St. Valentine a long time ago, and don’t even get me started on Dia dos Namorados or Dia das Crianças (Lovers’ Day and Children’s Day, respectively, celebrated in Brazil). The Brazilian government even got so incensed by locals trying to celebrate Halloween in Brazil (not a local holiday) that they invented Dia do Saci, a fictional character in popular folklore who smokes a pipe. Which, arguably, is not something to really persuade your children about. I will shortly get hate mail from Mr. Owl who is very protective of this Monteiro Lobato story.

Where am I going with all this? Oh yes, the Tuesday after the US Thanksgiving is considered “Giving Tuesday”, a holiday invented in 2012, and now known internationally. According to the GivingTuesday website (!!), “GivingTuesday was created as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past nine years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.”

It is a day where you pay it forward–whatever it is that you choose to do. For the last few years, it is a day the Owl has chosen to celebrate a local charity, as well as national–one of each. It is also a day when I choose to up my volunteering–today I have volunteer hours with two of my non-profit organizations.

How do you choose to be involved? It really doesn’t matter how you do it, just do it! You’ll feel good and so will the places or people you support.

Here is a list of Weston-based non-profits, as well as a couple from Waltham, my favorite neighbor except when their soccer team knocks us out of the playoffs. Please send me a note if I have missed one (and I surely have). These are in no particular order, just the order I could remember them

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The Friends of the Council on Aging: supports COA programs not covered by the town budget, subsidizes older adult transportation, and provides individual Weston seniors with emergency financial needs. https://www.weston.org/933/Friends-of-the-Council-on-Aging

Golden Ball Tavern Museum: Everyone’s favorite Tory-leaning Tavern. Oh, all right “loyalist”-leaning, tea drinkers apply here. https://www.goldenballtavern.org/membership

Land’s Sake, Inc. Community farming and agricultural education. And bunnies and maple syrup. And veggies. https://landssake.org/donate/

Women’s Community League of Weston: Long-time women’s organization which provides scholarship funds to Weston high schoolers. Also a large tree in Knox Park and tiny tots firetrucks. https://wclweston.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=152428

Weston Dads Foundation: Social and service opportunities for dads and families. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/westondads

Weston PTO: Supporting the kids and the schools. https://westonpto.membershiptoolkit.com/

Weston Forest & Trail Association: Everyone’s favorite trail and open space organization. http://www.westonforesttrail.org

Weston Friendly Society: The country’s second-oldest community theatre organization and a darn good one too. http://www.westonfriendly.org/donate.html

Weston Historical Society: Without which our town history would be lost. http://westonhistory.org/join-donate-help

Weston Media Center: You know you love to watch the Wes-TEN and all the committee meetings. They need our support. They also really need to put a donate button on their page. Ah well, contact them to give them money. http://www.westonmedia.org/volunteer-oportunities.html

Weston Art & Innovation Center: You can probably recite this line in your head–it’s the makerspace of the Weston Public Library. And I learned some cool acrylic painting stuff and how to lance a finger though technically I think that was called felting class. https://westonaic.org/donate/

Friends of the Weston Public Library: Folks, it’s for supporting the library, do I need to say more? Books or money are always welcome. https://www.westonlibrary.org/1525/Donate

Merriam Fund: Created by Charles Merriam for the hard-working people of the town who have a short-term financial crisis. Checks to Town of Weston – Merriam Fund, PO Box 378, Weston, MA 02493

Weston METCO Scholarship Fund: scholarships for Weston METCO Program to attend college or to obtain other post-secondary education. Checkts to WestonMETCO Scholarship Fund, Inc., c/o William H. Wrean, Jr., 49 Bay State Road, Weston, MA 02493

First Parish Church: FPC, everyone’s favorite stone church with a Paul Revere bell, has a number of chartitable ideas including a mitten tree, food pantry help as well as the Weston CARES fund. Check it out: https://firstparishweston.org/make-a-difference-this-holiday/

Roxbury-Weston Pre-School Programs: the longest-running culturally diverse education program in the country https://www.roxwes.org/donate

Rotary Club of Weston and Wayland. Go get a tree this week…and support their mission which is really long and you can check it on their webpage, or send me an angry email. https://westonwaylandrotary.com/page/make-a-donation-or-payment

Weston Scout House: Support the home of boys and girls scouting in Weston. http://westonscouthouse.org/

Waltham:

Boys and Girls Club of Waltham: Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of young people by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging, and influence. https://walthambgc.org/donate-today/

WATCH CDC: I met this organization at St. Peter’s Church and was so impressed. “WATCH CDC works towards a more just community in the Waltham area by promoting affordable housing, providing adult education and leadership development, and empowering underrepresented residents through civic engagement.” You can learn more about how to get involved here: https://watchcdc.org/get-involved/