BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — In one local community, parents don't need to worry about overdue school lunch balances from last year after one generous dad picked up the entire tab.
The man wanted to stay anonymous. All Boston 25 News learned about him is that he has kids that go to Mitchell Elementary and Williams Intermediate schools in Bridgewater and he owns a business in the neighboring town of Raynham.
Bridgewater-Raynham Superintendent Derek Swenson says he showed up out of the blue one day at the central office.
“It's just a situation where the gentleman wanted to remain anonymous, which we wanted to respect his wishes,” said Swenson.
Eric Delisle runs the school lunch program for the district and says the generous father paid off hundreds of overdue school lunch accounts, totaling $2,780.
Swenson says in most cases, parents either forgot to pay or were putting it off, but for families struggling to make ends meet, they simply didn't have the cash.
“It really resonated with me because that is what we emphasize with our students on a daily basis, to be that person who demonstrates that random act of kindness and pay it forward,” said Swenson.