The Zukowski Family Foundation sponsored their annual “From Our Family to Yours” holiday dinner distribution to families in the Plymouth and Terryville community. This is the third year that the foundation provided selected families with fresh food items to prepare a holiday meal.
The foundation partnered with ShopRite of Bristol to purchase and deliver the groceries for 12 families at Thanksgiving and 19 families at Christmas. Zukowski Family Foundation president, Leon Banas, said, in a press release, “Our foundation’s goal this year is to provide holiday meals for more local families during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season and we exceeded our goal. We were able to reach 31 families and more than 170 people through our program during the holidays. ”
The Zukowski Family Foundation was established by Raymond Zukowski, his wife Cheryl, and their children R.J. and Carissa in 2008. Ray lived in Terryville and graduated from Terryville High School. Having received much support from the schools and the community as a youth, he and his family decided to give back to the community by helping local families and children in Plymouth and Terryville.
Ray Zukowski said, in the press release, “Through our foundation we work together, with teachers, mentors and students to reach beyond the boundaries of life’s circumstances to a place of inspiration, perseverance and success. We are a small foundation but we want to have a positive impact on families in this community. One of our basic beliefs as a foundation is that the family unit is the most important entity as it relates to children and their development. We hope the “From Our Family to Yours” program helps reinforce that idea in the families we help.”
The foundation also offers scholarships to Terryville High School seniors, having granted more than $13,000 in scholarships to the graduating class of 2015 and, in addition, more than $10,000 to previous recipients who they continue to support. Each year the foundation also presents a Teacher Recognition Award to a teacher in the Plymouth Public Schools.
For more information on the Zukowski Family Foundation, go to zukowskifamilyfoundation.org.
