Left photo: Marie Ferent (left), assistant director of the Quincy Council on Aging, and Elaine Joseph, assistant vice president/branch manager at Bank of Canton’s 60 McGrath Highway branch in Quincy. Right photo: Melinda Alexander (left), coordinator for QCAP’s Southwest Community Food Center, and Michelle Higgins, Bank of Canton’s senior vice president of human resources and member of QCAP’s board of directors.
CANTON, Mass. (February 11, 2020) – Bank of Canton gave out more than one thousand reusable tote bags in Quincy last week, in advance of the city’s March 1st ban on most single-use plastic bags. Hundreds of bags were donated to local non-profit institutions throughout Quincy. Free bags are also being distributed to anyone visiting the bank’s Quincy branch, located at 60 McGrath Highway.
Quincy Council on Aging, Interfaith Social Services, and Quincy Community Action Programs’ (QCAP) Southwest Community Food Center all received 200 bags, courtesy of the bank, to share with families and individuals who use their services. The bank also handed out another 500 tote bags at Quincy Asian Resources’ Lunar New Year celebration on February 2nd.
“Bank of Canton has been a great community partner of QCAP over the years,” said Beth Ann Strollo, CEO of QCAP. “We are so thankful for their contributions, including most recently the donation of reusable tote bags to our Southwest Community Food Center. Our Food Center serves more than 3,000 people a year, and this donation will help us transition away from plastic bags.”
Beginning March 1st, most Quincy retailers will no longer offer disposable plastic bags at checkout, following the passage of legislation by the Quincy City Council on December 2, 2019.
“The Kennedy Center certainly appreciates this generous gift from Bank of Canton,” said Marie Ferent, assistant director of the Quincy Council on Aging. “These sturdy bags will be a huge help to our city’s seniors when they go food shopping next month.”
All Quincy residents are eligible to receive two free tote bags per person at Bank of Canton’s 60 McGrath Highway branch while supplies last. Bags are available during lobby business hours, Monday – Friday from 9:00am – 4:00pm (extended hours on Thursday until 7:00pm), and Saturday from 9:00am – 1:00pm.
“We wanted to help ease the City of Quincy’s transition to reusable bags,” said Stephen P. Costello, president and CEO of Bank of Canton. “Providing these tote bags to the city’s residents and nonprofit organizations was one small way we could assist.”
Bank of Canton has given more than $2.1 million to local charities and nonprofits through donations and sponsorships since 2005. Last year, the bank was recognized with a Corporate Citizenship Award from the Boston Business Journal, and received a Greater Boston region Banking Choice Award based on its Community Contribution ranking in the independent Banking Benchmarks® annual survey.
About Bank of Canton
Established in 1835, Bank of Canton is a Massachusetts-chartered mutual savings bank that offers its consumer, business and government banking customers access to a full array of deposit, loan, investment and convenience service options. As a mutual savings bank, the bank has no stockholders and acts exclusively in the best interests of its customers and communities. The bank lends throughout Massachusetts, and has branches in Canton, Quincy and Randolph and a mortgage center in Auburn. All deposits are fully insured between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Depositors Insurance Fund (DIF). For more information, visit www.ibankcanton.com. Member FDIC. Member DIF. Equal Housing Lender. NMLS #408169.
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