Town of Norwood General Manager Tony Mazzucco recently announced that Norwood Bank has made a $60,000 donation to help fund the town’s weekly family meals program for the months of May and June. The program, run through the Norwood Public Schools, was originally the idea of Norwood’s Incident Command Team. It provides free grab-and-go dinner meals to any Norwood family with students in the Norwood Public Schools or home-school children, or other school families with children under 18 years of age. The meals are available for pick up from any of the community elementary schools on Wednesdays. All meals are prepared and packaged "family style" and are distributed cold, with heating and cooling instructions provided. Meals contain 8-10 servings, potentially lasting more than one day.

Norwood Bank is also making a separate $5,000 donation to support the fund.

“This is an incredibly generous gift, and will feed hundreds of families in town,” Mazzucco said. “This family meals program is unique to the Town of Norwood, and it means so much that a community business such as Norwood Bank would get behind it. They’ve really stepped up by making this donation.”

Employees of Norwood Bank first raised the idea of contributing to the fund, and the Board of Directors asked President John Galvani to reach out to General Manager Mazzucco.

"Many of our employees have children in the school system,” Galvani said. “We’ve been helping a lot of our customers with loans through the new federal Paycheck Protection Program, and donating to the meals program was a way for us to go one step further and help our customers’ entire family. The donation was a natural fit for the bank, which has a long history of contributing to the Norwood Public Schools. We were founded in 1889, and since as far back as anyone can remember, the schools have been the main focus of our annual donations. From scholarships, to purchasing technology equipment, to sponsoring the Norwood High School after-prom party, we give back to the schools in any way we can, and this contribution is a way for us to assist further during these extraordinary times.”

The Norwood Public Schools cafeteria staff has also been instrumental in implementing the program, between organizing, packaging, and distributing the meals.

“They’ve [cafeteria staff] been on the front lines this entire time,” General Manager Mazzucco said. “It has truly been a team effort.”

“Norwood has a tradition of coming together when times are hard,” Galvani said. “This situation is no different. We’ve come together as a community, and it means a lot to be a part of that.”

To order a meal, visit www.norwoodma.gov, click All News, click on Norwood Bank within the article titled ‘Norwood Bank Donates for Family Meals.’