Sponsor Spotlight: Fidelity Bank’s LifeDesign Community Dividend  Support Gives Fitchburg Students an Amazing Experience

Founded as a cooperative bank nearly 140 years ago to serve the hardworking middle class of Fitchburg, MA, with a high-quality banking experience, Fidelity Bank and its values are deeply rooted in Central Massachusetts. Today, it continues to serve its clients and communities with the same passion, dedication, and care as it did in 1888 as a true cooperative bank, owned by the families who deposit their hard-earned savings there.

Fidelity Bank’s LifeDesign program guides community members to make solid financial decisions and informed choices that can help shape a better tomorrow. Through this program, the LifeDesign Community Dividend was born. It now provides support for a wide range of programs in the regions it serves. In 2021, it donated more than $450,000 to some 200 local organizations, including Groton Hill’s community engagement programs in underfunded public schools. 

“We are committed to improving the quality of life in the communities we serve by making positive financial, social, and environmental impacts,”  said Ed Manzi, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Fidelity Bank. “We intentionally build opportunities and pathways to success for the underrepresented members of our community.”

“Our support of Groton Hill Music Center aligns with our LifeDesign Community Dividend mission to help improve the quality of life for our clients, communities, and colleagues. Through this funding, Groton Hill was able to engage with Fitchburg Public School students to provide an experience of professional music and the opportunity to play an instrument to complement their academics,” said Manzi. 

In May, Groton Hill’s Fitchburg middle school string students had the opportunity to work with musicians Jesse Irons and Jason Fisher of the renowned chamber ensemble, A Far Cry. They coached the students through a tune they would later play in the May 6 concert with world-renowned Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and acclaimed cellist Natalie Haas on Groton Hill’s Concert Hall stage.

“Our Fitchburg string student program, under the direction of Groton Hill faculty Peter Hughes, has grown to 37 6th-8th grade students who are now reading music and playing together fluently,” said Groton Hill Community Engagement Manager, Laura Altenor. “Having world-class guest artists like Jesse and Jason from A Far Cry, as well as Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, push these students beyond the page to improvise and then play conductorless on our world-class stage, was an incredible experience for them!”

Watch the video from the May 6 workshop and performance with Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, which includes string students from Groton Hill’s Youth Orchestra, Fitchburg middle schools, and Lowell’s “Afternoon in the Arts” program.