PARIS, Maine — In the Oxford County School District (MSAD#17), parents won't have to worry about their children going hungry this summer.
The school district is holding its annual Summer Food Service Program to allow students to continue to receive free breakfast and lunch while they are on summer break starting on June 27 at select locations.
MSAD#17 Food Service Director Michael Mayberry told NEWS CENTER Maine that the program is critical for many students in the district.
"The SFSP is a critical program for many school districts in Maine, as many Maine students experience varying degrees of food insecurity," Mayberry said. "In the Oxford Hills, over half of all students qualify for free or reduced meals. In some of our schools, that number exceeds 60% of students or is as low as 18% at one school. Of the students who qualify [for] free or reduced meals, the vast majority of students qualify for free; which demonstrates the vastly disparate socio-economic conditions between towns within districts as large as ours, and further serves to underscore the need for operating such a program."
The program is partnered with the USDA and receives its food from Roberts Farm. Mayberry described Roberts Farm as "an experiential classroom and farm operated by the district to teach students about agriculture."
"Roberts Farm is excited to be strengthening our Farm to School connection with the Oxford Hills School District Food Service Program this growing season," Roberts Farm Experiential STEM Teacher Sarah Kearsley told NEWS CENTER Maine. "The majority of the food we produce goes to the district's food service program. For the past four years, produce grown at Roberts Farm has been donated to the district's kitchens, but this year the food service department will be paying market rate for our crops."
MSAD#17's partnership with Roberts Farm benefits both keeping food in students' bellies, as well as growing and expanding their knowledge about the importance of sustainable agriculture.
"These funds will help sustain our agriculture education program moving forward, allowing for the purchase of seeds and helping us maintain our growing infrastructure," Kearsley said. "The Summer Feeding Program will be the first component of this partnership this year. As we harvest crops for the food service program later in the summer, our older students will help write up short info sheets about the vegetables and growing conditions to educate the students who are eating them."
The feeding program will be held at each of the following locations:
- Agnes Gray School, located at 170 Main Street in West Paris.
- Guy E. Rowe School, located at 219 Main Street in Norway.
- Oxford Elementary School, located at 79 Pleasant Street in Oxford.
- Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, located at 256 Main Street in South Paris.
- Oxford Hills Middle School (North Campus) located at 100 Pine Street in South Paris.
- Paris Elementary School, located at 4 Hathaway Road in South Paris.
- Waterford Memorial School, located at 148 Valley Road in Waterford.
You can find the dates and times that breakfast and lunch will be offered to students at each location in the attachment below.
Mayberry says the program has received a great amount of positive feedback and support from the community, administrators, and the school board.
"We are hopeful we can play a role in meeting the needs of our community and to help to augment the nutritional needs of the children within our district," Mayberry said. "We have broadened our program to include additional serving sites; which we're hopeful will mitigate pervasive food insecurity in Western Maine. Feeding just one hungry child, who may otherwise have hunger pains, makes the Summer Feeding Program a worthwhile endeavor."
For more information about the MSAD#17 Summer Food Service Program, as well as information about their food service offered to students overall, click here.
