KENNEBUNK — Full Plates, Full Potential is the moniker of a new statewide stakeholders group forming to determine how to make sure kids aren’t going hungry in Maine, in the long-term.
They already know many are. According to estimates provided at a roundtable discussion Tuesday, about 1 in 4 Maine students doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from, or is going hungry.
The stakeholders group, made up of legislators and others, formally kicks off Monday. The leader, Senate President Justin Alfond, stopped by the Partners for a Hunger Free York County group, which meets at the United Way of York County building, on Tuesday to hear how they’re making strides against hunger, particularly for children. The Partners group is a coalition of program managers involved in feeding people.
“We need to have a plan, a three- to five-year plan on how to end student hunger,” said Alfond.
Jackie Tselikis, the Partners for a Hunger-Free York County group’s summer meals expansion coordinator, said last year, efforts to increase use of the summer meal program were successful, with about 15,000 more meals served. The program provides free lunch, and in some cases breakfast, to students up to age 18 in various locations across the county.
Summer meals are provided with funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture funneled through the state Department of Education. Meal sites are typically on school premises, or at playgrounds, parks and the like.
In 2012, the summer meals programs in York County served slightly fewer than 49,000 meals. In 2013, 64,000 were served, with the largest increases in Biddeford, RSU 6, RSU 23 and RSU 57.
Tselikis said transportation can be an issue in rural areas ”“ and in some urban ones. In Biddeford, she said, meals are bused to neighborhoods.
Partners for a Hunger-Free York County Director Kristine Jenkins said some school officials welcome the thought of a summer meal program, but others are apprehensive, worried they won’t get reimbursed.
A law passed by the Legislature this past session, vetoed by Gov. LePage and the veto overridden by both the House and Senate, requires that in communities where 50 percent or more of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the school committee is required to talk about starting a summer food program.
Allie Hopkins, a Americorps-Vista volunteer with the York County partnership, said she’d been visiting with home-based childcare providers, to encourage them to take part in a nutrition program. About 30 took part, and five of those agreed to allow small raised-bed gardens on their properties. Materials were donated, and kids tend the small, 2-by-4-foot plots, learning about vegetables at the same time.
Jenkins pointed out that in York County, 10,000 children qualify for free or reduced lunch programs, but said the school year program is underutilized, particularly in high schools, where teens are fearful of being stigmatized by their peers.
“The elephant in the room is public attitudes about ”˜welfare,’” said York County Co-operative Extension Agency Director Frank Wertheim, who asked Alfond how that can be dealt with in the Legislature.
Alfond said Gov. LePage has strongly-held beliefs, but he also said the governor “does some good things I agree with,” without being more specific.
“But it’s the lack of a conversation, a lack of trying to find a common nugget,” that Alfond said he finds frustrating. “We’re not having a conversation about solutions.”
“What’s unfortunate now in this political arena is, with this chief executive, some of these bills (that had been introduced) became a litmus test on whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat,” said Alfond.
He said the governor “has made this a black and white issue, and it’s not.”
Jenkins said perhaps folks need to put their heads together and find a way to change the conversation.
“Let’s reclaim the word ”˜welfare,’” said Wertheim. “”˜Fare well,’ what’s wrong with that?”
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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