Norwood Brings Back Weekly Family Meal Program

NORWOOD, MA — Norwood is bringing back its weekly family meals program that helped feed over 400 families at the start of the COVID-19 crisis in the spring.

The program is scheduled to start in November and is run through the Norwood Public Schools in partnership with the town and Norwood Food Service. The program was an idea that started with the members of Norwood’s Incident Command Team in the spring. In May and June the program served weekly dinners to over 400 families.

Free grab-and-go dinner meals will be available for Norwood families who have students in the Norwood Public Schools or who are home-schooled, or Norwood families of other schools with children under 18 years of age.

The initiative is being funded by donations received through the Norwood Fund and from Norwood Bank.

"We will continue to assist the Norwood community through these difficult times however we can, and we thank the Norwood Public Schools and Norwood Food Service for their continued partnership and efforts to coordinate this valuable program," said Norwood General Manager Tony Mazzucco.

The meal distribution dates are as follows:

• Wednesday, Nov. 4
• Wednesday, Nov. 18
• Wednesday, Dec. 2
• Wednesday, Dec. 9
• Wednesday, Dec. 16

The schedule excludes the weeks that schools will be on holiday break, during which meals will not be served.

Families are asked to fill out a Google form to indicate their request for grab-and-go dinners. All meal requests should be submitted by 10 a.m. on Tuesdays through the months of November and December. The meals will be available for pick up from Balch Elementary School or Norwood High School on Wednesdays.

All meals will be prepared and packaged “family-style” and distributed cold, with heating and cooling instructions provided. Meals contain 8-10 servings so that they may last more than one day for a family. Different meals will be prepared each week with two options to chose from. A full menu can be found here.

"We aim to provide easy meals each week that provide dinner for the whole family, which is what makes this program unique," said Elijah Norris, Food Service Director, Chartwells at Norwood Public Schools. "The Norwood Public Schools cafeteria staff were crucial to the success of the program in the spring, and we thank them for their continued work to feed Norwood children and families during these unprecedented times. We urge anyone who is interested in a meal to fill out the form so we can accurately plan for distribution."

Anyone with food allergies should contact food services at enorris@norwood.k12.ma.us or call 781-762-6804, ext. FOOD, to discuss alternative options.

Click here to order meals through the program. All requests are kept confidential and are used for planning purposes only.