The
Summer Food Service Program will be providing free summer meals again this year
every weekday from Monday July 8
through Friday, August 16 from noon to 1 p.m. This seventh annual free summer
meal program will be located at Dundee Park, 79 Presumpscot Road in Windham
with the intention to help families save money while providing a fun, safe
place for kids and teens, ages 18 and under, to eat a healthy meal every day of
the week -unless the park is closed.
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| Summer fun and free meals at Dundee Park |
The Summer Meal program
is served by a number of volunteers throughout the community. Volunteers
assist each day from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to set up, receive the meals,
serve the meals and clean up. “Volunteers are asked to commit to two or three
time slots over the course of the six-week session,” stated Michelle Jordan,
volunteer coordinator. “They can volunteer on a weekly basis or just for one of
the months.”
There will be mandatory training for
volunteers on Wednesday, June 19 at 1 p.m. at Westbrook High School in Room
114. If you are interested in learning more about
volunteering, you can contact Jordan at wpsvolunteer @gmail.com. The program
is most in need of volunteers on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. If
you want to volunteer and can't make that meeting, please let Jordan know and
she’ll make arrangements for you.
STATISTICS AT A GLANCE:
Statistics
indicate that one out of every five school age children are food insecure. This
includes children in our small-town communities of Windham and Raymond.
According
to the Economic Research Service division of the United States Department of
Agriculture, the following is what is known about food insecurity in the U.S.
“The defining characteristic of very low
food security is that, at times during the year, the food intake of household
members is reduced, and their normal eating patterns are disrupted because the
household lacks money and other resources for food. Very low food security can
be characterized in terms of the conditions that households in this category
typically report in the annual food security survey.
98 percent
reported having worried that their food would run out before they got money to
buy more.
97 percent
reported that the food they bought just did not last, and they did not have
money to get more.
95 percent
reported that they could not afford to eat balanced meals.
97 percent
reported that an adult had cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there
was not enough money for food.
88 percent
reported that this had occurred in 3 or more months.
68 percent of
respondents reported that they had been hungry but did not eat because they
could not afford enough food.
44 percent of
respondents reported having lost weight because they did not have enough money
for food.
33 percent
reported that an adult did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough
money for food.
“I think it is
important to volunteer and to help bridge the summer gap that students
experience during summer vacation,” Jeanne Reilly, RSU#14 Food Service Director
stated in a previous interview. “This gap is pretty severe right here in
Windham and Raymond and we need all the help we can get.”
Volunteers, and their children, will have free access
into the park, as entrance fees do apply. Park stickers that affix to your vehicle
will be replacing passes that were used last year and will be available for Windham
and Raymond residents and can be requested from Reilly at jreilly@rsu14.org.
For those who
are interested in volunteering, contact Jordan at wpsvolunteer@gmail.com. To learn more about the program
itself, contact Marge Govoni at mgovoni@rsu14.org.
Lunch must be eaten at the park and
cannot be taken home; this is the policy for this program.
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