I was 15 the first time I bagged my first grocery in my local Big Y. It was in Westfield, store No. 10. It was also my first job.
For the next four years, it was a place of a lot of training, learning, and fun. I’d depart for UMASS and come home weekends to put in hours. By my sophomore year the travel was too much, and so I left. By then, Big Y had become a second family: friends that I still gather with regularly, managers and trainers I’ll see at various stores who know me by name. I’m a Big Y shopper, through and through. Family owned and operated has always equaled a quality unmatched.
The Big Y Express program supported my schools growing up – and in essence, me. So, in 2016, when I made Greenfield my home, it was of little surprise that I began shopping at store No. 83. On the surface, I know where everything is. I know the customer service provided. I know the quality I’m getting. What was such a genuine and lovely surprise was the email I was forwarded by my principal this morning from Mr. John Schnepp III. In it, Mr. Schnepp, on behalf of Big Y, is awarding Newton School $5,000 to be put towards desperately needed paving to ensure safe playtime on our playground blacktop. Mr. Schnepp reminds us that Mrs. D’Amour, mother of the two founders of Big Y was an educator, too.
As a 2nd grade teacher at Newton, it’s wonderful to realize the commitment Big Y’s continues to make to education, its employees, and our community is something that feels much like it did at age 15. There is a deep and profound gratitude for the family that makes up Big Y for their support of our school.
We are just finishing up our read-aloud of Frank L. Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz.” I read, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any farther than my own back yard…” I should have known that the very thing we needed could be found in the aisles of Big Y, in the heart of a company that really gets that it takes a village!
Jami Witherell
Greenfield