🥫👖Got any cans or clothes?

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

🍔 We’ve got two food deals to cure your Hump Day slump: 1. PLNT Burger is celebrating its Coolidge Corner opening by offering a free burger to the first 100 customers starting at 5:30 p.m. 2. NAYA, a new downtown fast casual spot à-la Cava, is offering $1 bowls and rolls today (and for just $5 through the end of the year).

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Nasty weather is here

• Great Scott’s comeback

• Market Basket déjà vu

Up first…

12 DAYS OF B-SIDE

It’s the reason for the season … for a reason

On the fifth day of B-Side the newsletter gave to me: Volunteer opportunities(!) … Tips for Boston winters, one pop-up review, local gift recs, and a Boston holiday tree. 🎶

If you’re feeling the itch to give back this holiday season, we don’t blame ya. Whether you have time, clothes, cash, food, or something else to spare, here are a few ways you can put them to good use.

⏰ If you’ve got time on your hands … Boston’s Boys & Girls Club is always looking for support on everything from service projects to programming to admin. Pine Street Inn could use help with kitchen work and dinner service; La Colaborativa, which supports Latinx immigrants, has a variety of volunteer positions open from food distribution to practice interviewer, as does ABCD, a program supporting underserved Bostonians. Finally, Somerville’s Bikes Not Bombs has weekly volunteer nights breaking down and building bikes (no experience required). 

👖 If you have spare clothes or toiletries … Second Chances is taking a wide variety of clothing, especially women’s and men’s clothes in larger sizes. St. Francis House needs everyday and business casual clothing, Cradles to Crayons is asking for winter coats and shoes, and Solutions at Work could use professional attire, accessories, and school supplies. If you have toiletries, Rosie’s Place is the place to drop them.

🧸 If you have toys to share … Speaking of ABCD, the antipoverty organization recently put out a major call for toys after receiving over 6,500 requests this year, and zero donations. Most toys will do, but especially for kids 10 to 12 years old.

🥫 If you have some extra food … Your local food pantry is a no-brainer option, which you can find here. Or, you could drop items at one of the many, many community fridges in Greater Boston, which you can find here — just make sure to note any specific guidelines. 

🐶 If you’re an animal lover … The Boston MSPCA keeps a running list of open volunteer positions, from data entry to dog caregiving, and Last Hope Canine Rescue could use some help with grant writing and foster applications. More into wild animals? Boston’s Audubon has a couple of volunteer opportunities as well.

❤️ And that’s just a fraction of the needs right now. If nothing here strikes your fancy, there are tons of other volunteer opportunities in the city and beyond. Here’s a list of places to start.

B-SIDE AWARDS

🏆️ Welcome to the first-ever B-Side Awards! 

A.k.a. our new mini year-end awards show that aims to recognize the best, worst, silliest, floppiest, and wildest things we covered in the newsletter. 

We’ll be asking you to vote for the best of the best in each category through Dec. 19 (we’ll reveal all the winners on Dec. 20). So without further ado, our next category is:

Most tragic restaurant/bar closure.

TOGETHER WITH THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE TREASURY

Santa might not be the only one with a gift for you 

🎁💰Find out if the Massachusetts State Treasury has a little something special with your name on it. With billions in unclaimed cash and forgotten savings just waiting to be discovered, you might just find a holiday bonus that’ll make your season even brighter. Search your name today (it’s free and takes less than 30 seconds) and unwrap your surprise gift early!

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🌧️ Brace for some nasty New England weather. And by nasty, we mean 2-3 inches of widespread heavy rain, potential flooding, a high wind watch, and, the icing on the cake, 60+ degree temps today. Pretty much all of New England will see some rain, but Boston (and much of the coast) is under a slight flood threat and a high wind watch, with 50 to 60 mph gusts expected, which could = power outages. At least it’ll tee us up for some nicer weather on Thursday. Stay updated here.

💀 Mayor Michelle Wu’s tax proposal is dead dead. If Mayor Wu’s controversial commercial tax proposal was dead on Monday afternoon (which it literally was according to a state Senator), now it’s six feet under. On Monday evening, Senate president Karen Spilka released a statement officially declaring she won’t bring the proposal up for further debate due to a lack of support in the chamber. This is a major political L for Wu, who threw her full support behind the measure in what was a monthslong saga.

🦆 A few local ducks and geese are in a sticky situation. Literally — on Sunday an oil spill in the Muddy River near the Longwood T stop left a number of ducks and geese coated in heating oil that leaked into a storm drain near Levitt Pond. Most info on the spill is TBD, but thankfully, the New England Wildlife Center was able to jump into action. They took in 20 of the most affected birds, with more to come, and kicked off what is expected to be a weeks-long rehabilitation process. 

🎶 We’ve got new deets about Great Scott’s comeback. In case you’re not up to speed, the iconic Allston music venue, Great Scott, is officially making its grand return to the neighborhood after closing during COVID, just two blocks from its original spot. But we now know its new proposed space will be a triple threat. Expect a music area (duh), a neighborhood retail/food and beverage space, and on top — separated by a sound barrier — 139 residential units, all dressed up in what’s described as “non-traditional” design. We can’t wait.

GIVEAWAY

Together with SOWA

Enter to win a SoWa prize package including VIP Winter Festival passes, a $250 vendor gift box, a $100 Marseille dining gift card, and $250 in SoWa Health + Wellness class passes and merchandise. To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Dec. 12. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

Market Basket déjà vu

Close your eyes and imagine the conversation your dad might have with an acquaintance at Market Basket. Now, open your eyes, click on this TikTok, and listen to local stand-up comedian Lindsey Karalias replicate it to a T. 

A few days ago, she posted her impression of a dude running into someone in Mass. he hasn’t seen in awhile, and it was so good it blew up, gaining over 300k views, and giving us a massive case of déjà vu. 

Since then, she’s added a few more, including “When a random Boston dad talks to you at an atm,” and “when you check in at the doctor in Mass. before your appointment,” and they’re all scary good.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

💬 Thanks for reading! “Hey! How ah ya? The family’s good, everyone’s good?” is seared into our brains forever.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the Massachusetts State Treasury, for supporting local journalism and helping residents reclaim what’s rightfully theirs.

🥶 The results are in: 44% of B-Siders said that their winter hibernation status usually depends on their mood. One reader said: “y'all ever heard of long underwear?”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].