Free summer meals for all local students launches in June

RSU 14's Summer Meals Program begins June 17
and runs through Aug. 19. Distribution will be on
Mondays and Thursdays at locations yet to be 
announced. The program is funded by the USDA
and is meant to provide nutritious meals for
children while school is out for 
the summer. COURTESY PHOTO 

By Ed Pierce 

With summer break rapidly approaching for RSU 14 students, many parents are scrambling to keep food on the table, with children out of school until the fall.

But starting June 17, the RSU 14 School Nutrition Program will provide summer meals for students 18 and under courtesy of funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Normally Windham doesn’t qualify for a summer meals program in that 50 percent of students do not receive free or reduced lunches reimbursed by the USDA,” said Jeanne Reilly, director of school nutrition for RSU 14. “Now that requirement has been waived through the summer because of the pandemic.”

The summer meals distribution is planned to run through at least Aug. 19 but could be extended if needed, she said.

The program will operate in a similar fashion to the existing programs being used by RSU 14 to help feed nutritious meals to students learning at home during the pandemic or for students over weekends and long extended holidays or breaks from the school year, Reilly said.

“Right now, we’re distributing food to about 300 to 400 children every Friday at no cost,” she said. “The expectation for these summer meals is that we will be providing meals to at least 100 children and maybe a lot more than that. Anything over 100 will be a success.”

According to Reilly, the summer meals will be sent home in bulk bags and include milk, bread, rolls, spiced deli meats and heat-and-eat choices.

“The heat-and-eat meals are really a combination of varieties,” she said. “But inside each bulk bag will be fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, dairy, rolls, bread, protein items, cereal, breakfast bars, and some juice.”

The free bulk bags will be available for distribution to registered participants on Mondays and contain three days of food, and on Thursdays the bags will supply four days of meals. The summer meals pick-up sites are still being developed, but one location will be behind Windham High School near Windham Raymond Adult Education.

“We’ve had a lot of success with that during the pandemic and hope to be able to continue that this summer with this program,” Reilly said.

A recent report from Feeding America estimates that one in eight people in Maine, or about 166,910 individuals are currently facing hunger. That number includes 44,520 children, or about one in every six children in the state is food insecure.

Across America, the national rate of those who are food insecure stands at about 11.1 percent, data from the USDA Economic Research Service shows. However, that number rises to 13.6 percent of households are food insecure in Maine, which is the highest rate among the New England states.

Reilly said despite all of the hardships caused by the pandemic, there has been a number of silver linings for families in Windham and Raymond.

“Our meals have gotten into homes,” she said. “Parents can see the value of the nutritious school meals we are serving their children. They can see that we serve much more than pizza and hamburgers. A school meal gives students familiarity and has restored some normalcy to their lives when they’re not in school.”

The feedback from parents about school meals has been positive, Reilly said.

“Parents tell us that the meals at home program have kept students tied to their school even as they are learning at home remotely when they are not physically in school,” she said. “People tell me that they’ve really been touched by our consistently providing their children with nutritious meals whether at home or in school.”

The link for families to order meals during the summer is https://rsu14.nutrislice.com/.

Reilly said that the site is free to use and is available from a computer or as a mobile app. All meals are free. <