“Wonderful to be appreciated,” Dad recruits businesses to offer discounts to teachers

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    LYNNFIELD, Massachusetts (WBZ) — It’s no secret the best teachers go above and beyond for their students, but sometimes, their paychecks don’t reflect all their hard work. That’s why some Lynnfield businesses are joining a home-grown commitment to show their appreciation for these special educators.

As her kids warmed up for their session at the Vault gym in Lynnfield, Michelle Kane was smiling about the 25% teacher discount she’s getting.

“It’s wonderful to be appreciated by the people that you work for,” Kane told WBZ-TV.

Lifelong Lynnfield resident Mark Vitagliano is the architect of the plan. “It’s been unbelievable, super heartwarming,” he said.

Vitagliano is a dad with two kids and has been a fixture at school committee meetings, voicing his concern that teachers are neither heard nor appreciated like they should be. He knows that won’t be solved overnight.

“But in the short term I was thinking of how can I affect change for the teachers immediately, and I came up with this idea to do this ‘Lynnfield Loves Our Teachers,'” Vitagliano said.

In less than two weeks, Vitagliano has recruited nearly two dozen local businesses to offer Lynnfield teachers a special discount of anywhere between 10 and 25 percent.

At Chicken & the Pig, there was no hesitation.

“Our owner jumped on board, and right away he called me, and I said sure let’s do it, no questions asked,” restaurant manager Randy Williams told WBZ.

Restaurants, salons, gyms and landscapers are all offering the Lynnfield teacher discount, with more coming onboard every day.

“You know teachers are not really in it for the money, we’re in it for the outcomes and the kids, and knowing that the parents really appreciate what we are doing with the kids is wonderful,” Kane said.

“So, I just really wanted the teachers know that they are appreciated. They are heard by us as parents and we love them and we support them,” Vitagliano said.

Vitagliano says he’ll be outside schools this week handing out hundreds of free McDonald’s coffee vouchers, as the list of discounters grows.

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