Updated: Support Education by Grabbing a Bite to Eat at Not Your Average Joe's

Supporting education at just got as easy as ordering lunch.

That is because of a new fund-raising effort coordinated between the school's PTO and , located in the Wayside Commons. Every Tuesday through the end of April, customers will have the opportunity to support the school every time they eat at Joe's. That is because the middle school is the current recipient of the restaurant's Not Your Average Cause program, which donates 15 percent of the amount of the cost of a meal to a local cause.

"This is part of what Not Your Average Joe's is all about, we want to be part of the community and support the groups out there that are making a difference," explained assistant general manager Joe Mancuso. "There are a lot of causes out there and this is a way for us to select a group and say 'this month we’re doing it for you.'"

The program is simple. In order to have 15 percent of the cost of a meal donated to the middle school, all you need to do is present the certificate to a staff member upon receiving the check. This can be done by printing out a copy of the certificate (Patch has supplied a copy in the images section of this article), show the certificate on a smart phone, or, if you forget to bring one, ask a member of the wait staff at Joe's for a copy.

Marshall Simonds Middle School PTO member Faydeen Sateriale, who organized this fund-raising venture, said she appreciates Not Your Average Joe's for making the middle school its Not Your Average Cause. She also pointed out that normally Joe's highlight's a certain group for one month, but in this case has agreed to make the school the beneficiary for two months, March and April.

“Joe Mancuso has been really supportive and very accommodating to make sure this works for us," she said. "It is a fresh and new idea and we get to help a local business and they are giving back to the schools.”

Sateriale added that the program will help spare students and parents from additional fund raising activities while at the same time will help the PTO meet its goals. Students and their parents have busy schedules and already spend a lot of time fund-raising for school-and-community-based causes, and this program will help relieve some of the pressure.

The MSMS PTO uses its fund to support education in a variety of ways. Sateriale said funds will be used to pay for buses for field trips, provide snacks during the MCAS tests as well as supply much-needed educational and extra-curricular items. Last year, for example, the group purchased a spotlight for the auditorium and the year before bought microscopes for the seventh-grade science labs, flip cameras for the media center and supplies for the new mural.

Not Your Average Joe's makes a variety of dishes, including vegetable spring rolls, crab cakes, pizza, firecracker chicken and salads. The location also has a kids' menu, a dessert menu, which includes chocolate cake and strawberry shortcake, and offers half-price drinks during happy hour every day. Not Your Average Joe's caters for up to 50 people.