Category Archives: From the PTO

Newton Food Pantry – School Break

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. 

8th Grade Visit with Ruby Bridges – April 14, 2022


Bigelow is excited to welcome back Ruby Bridges for an engaging virtual presentation on April 14, 2022 at 12:30pm. Ruby Bridges is living history. She was the first African American child to enter the newly desegregated New Orleans school system in 1960. During Ruby’s program, 8th graders will have an interactive discussion with Ruby about the civil rights movement in the 1960’s as well as her ongoing commitment to the idea that if all of our children refuse to allow hatred and racism to be passed down to them, social justice for all will be the outcome. 


This program is made possible by Creative Arts & Sciences and the Bigelow PTO.

CAS AuthorFest is coming!

Authors and illustrators will be visiting classrooms to promote literacy and share their experience as a writer and reader.

Make plans to attend the after school meet and greet, book sale and signing at Cabot Elementary on Tuesday, April 12 – 3:15 to 5:30 pm. Twenty-one authors and illustrators, who visited schools all over the district, will be on hand to greet students and their families. This event is open to the public. Newtonville Books will have a selection of books for sale. 20% of proceeds will pay for future CAS/PTO sponsored events.

CAS AuthorFest 2022 is made possible by the hard work of the Creative Arts & Sciences committee, contributions to the PTO, a generous grant from the Newton Schools Foundation, and additional funding from The Village Bank, and Harmony Foundation. 

For more information go to www.facebook.com/newtoncreativeartsandsciences.