It’s hard to believe that summer is coming to an end soon, and the kids will be back to school in just a few short weeks. We helped celebrate last week with parents and students by offering free meals at the Central Lincoln County YMCA Back to School Bash and Wiscasset’s Set for Success events, provided by our summer meals program. Not only were our summer meals offered, but we also had beautiful summer squash and zucchini provided by Twin Village Farm that was free for all families!
This was my first year participating in these events with Healthy Lincoln County, and there’s something about simply giving a brown bagged lunch to a kiddo that makes your heart smile. I hadn’t realized the impact the Summer Meals program has on the Lincoln County community, but after seeing familiar faces from the mobile route, or parents asking if we provide the lunches to their children’s summer program, it’s obvious how important this program is. The numbers also don’t lie – between these two events alone we handed out 175 meals!
It’s amazing to see a community come together to show support for the students in the area, and to help them feel excited about returning to school, by providing school supplies and other resources. We were lucky enough to provide a free meal and produce and to let the communities know we are still providing free meals to kids through August 25th!
If you’d like to find an open site near you, go to maine.gov/doe/hotlunchsummer, where you can input your zip code and it will pull up the closest open sites to you.
Happy summer, and here’s to a fun and safe school year!
