Eladio Guevara is no stranger to the food and dining business - he spent 30 years running a family restaurant with his mom in North Reading. Eventually, though, the time came for the Stoneham native to venture out on his own.

“I left a solid paycheck to spend time with my family,” said Eladio, who now lives in Reading with his three children and wife, Amy.

After Eladio left the family business, he and Amy opened EJs Fresh Pizza in Wilmington. Both work very hard at the restaurant and operate it as co-owners. While EJ’s is still very demanding of Eladio’s time, it offers more downtime, including a chance to watch and coach his kids in baseball.

With an established restaurant and engaged community, life was good for the Guevara family. But in 2017, they got word that the owner of the building where EJ’s Fresh Pizza was located would be demolished.

A Northern Bank employee (also a customer of EJ’s) learned of the problem and offered a solution.

“I was going to ride it out and stay in the building as long as I could,” said Eladio, who could not afford to move the business to another location. “But Northern Bank opened the doors financially. It was painless. I did nothing. I signed my name and Northern did all the legwork.”