Stoneham, Wakefield Groups Receive Major Donations

STONEHAM, MA — The First Church Stoneham Food Pantry recently celebrated alongside the Stoneham Senior Center and the Boys & Girls Club of Stoneham and Wakefield after receiving donations from Northern Bank.

Contributions totaled more than $20,000. They came as part of a piggy bank initiative at Northern Bank’s Stoneham location, which opened late last year. Bank customers had the opportunity to vote in the piggy bank program by dropping colored tokens into a giant piggy bank. Each color represented the Senior Center, the Food Pantry and the Boys & Girls Club, respectively.

The organization with the most tokens at the end of the initiative would receive a $13,000 grant from the Northern Bank Charitable Foundation, the bank said. Second place would get $5,000 while $2,500 would go to the third place organization.

The piggy bank program launched in June. Northern Bank then announced its winner on Tuesday, awarding the first place grant to the First Church Food Pantry. The Senior Center won the second place grant, while third place went to the Boys & Girls Club.

The food pantry celebrated its win on social media, calling the grant a “much needed windfall.”

The Boys & Girls Club similarly thanked Northern Bank while celebrating their grant.

“This investment in our community will make an immediate impact on those most vulnerable,” the club wrote.

The Stoneham Northern Bank branch is located at 240 Main Street.