Summer Food Service Program Free to All Maine Kids Who Need a Meal

A sad reality that is true for many is that a lot of children depend on school cafeteria food as their meals for the day. When school isn’t in session, that dependable and constant resource is gone. This can negatively affect the lives of many.

Maine’s Hot Lunch Summer

Through a mission to provide Maine children the nutrients and meals they need, the Maine Department of Education generously provides a Summer Food Service Program across the state. Maine’s Hot Lunch Summer is a resource available to thousands of kids across the state to make meals available for any child that needs it during the summer months.

As WABI-TV shares, the meal service program is available in every single county in Maine, with each county having at least one and as many as dozens, making it a total of 400 meal sites across the entire state. You can find the closest location to you right here through Maine.gov.

A lot of students depend on school meals and this allows students to still get fed even when school is not in session during the summer. At each site daily there are complimentary meals completely free of charge to any child under the age of 18. As the WABI-TV article shares, last July the program handed out more than 21,000 meals per day.

Supporting our Communities

That goes to show how many families are in need in our state. It’s generosity and programs like this that help support and sustain the members in our community.

Learning about this program reminds me of a restaurant I recently discovered in Oxford that hosts community dinners free of charge. You can learn more about Daddy O’s philanthropy here.