By
Lorraine Glowczak
Although
recent changes to the USDA’s eligibility requirements helped solve RSU14’s
challenge in providing summer meals for students who are experiencing food
insecurity, the Raymond community is still moving forward with their initiative
to provide grocery item for students and their families this summer, no
questions asked.
Until
the waiver of federal eligibility requirements were extended about two weeks
ago, not one of the RSU14 school sites were eligible to provide free meals for
all students, since they do not meet the benchmark of over 50 percent of
students qualifying for free or reduced meals.
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| Raymond Community Community Organizers prepare bags of non-perishable and fresh food items to be given out Tuesdays from 1 to 3:30 p.m. (until further notice) at Jordan-Small School. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
“As
soon as we discovered students in Raymond would not have access to food this
summer, I knew we had to do something,” said Teresa Sadak, one of the
organizers of the initiative and a Raymond Town Select Board Member. “I was
determined that we would find the funds and figure it out.”
Although
Windham and Raymond students will have the opportunity to pick up nutritious
meals four days a week – the Raymond
Food Committee organizers decided to move forward with their original plan and
provide weekly grocery items for all Raymond families with children in order to
fill in the gap of making sure adults have access to food too.
The
initial plan was to hand out food every Tuesday from 1 to 3:30 pm (and will do
so until further notice), but with the recent development with the RSU, Raymond
is working to figure out the best way to proceed with providing non-perishable
and fresh food items at Jordan Small Middle School’s cafeteria, located at 423 Webbs Mills Road. Either way, grocery items will continue to be
distributed through-out the summer months until the start of the school year next
fall. Until a set date and time has been established it is encouraged to
email the organizers at covid19@raymondmaine.org on a weekly basis.
“The
goal is to reach as many families as possible,” said Raymond Community
Communications Coordinator, Kaela Gonzalez. “We want to make sure all of our
families are fed so we are trying to find the best time to accommodate people’s
schedules. It is also important to note this program is confidential and open
to any family that needs help with food.\ No paperwork needed - just show up
and we will hand you a bag of food.”
The
types of food to be offered varies from week to week but examples include kid
friendly foods such as: granola bars, goldfish and fruit snacks, cereal, fresh fruits
and veggies, pasta and sauce, peanut butter, crackers, English muffins and much
more.
“For
the first couple of weeks, we have planned to serve 35 families,” Sadak said.
“It will be on a first come/first serve basis, but we are determined to not let
any child or family go hungry and if we discover we need to provide for more
families - we will find a way to serve everyone.”
One
solution the committee, which consists of Sadak and Gonzalez, Rep. Jess Fay and
Deputy Chief of Emergency Services and Health Officer, Cathy Gosselin and other
volunteers, is requesting feedback from families to help the committee plan and
prepare for each week.
“If
people could email us at covid19@raymondmaine.org to let us know the following questions,
that would be very helpful,” Gosselin said.
Those
questions are: Do you want to receive food this summer? What is the best time
for you to pick up- afternoon or evening? Do you need the food dropped off at
your home? How many in your family?
Once
the committee has received feedback from the community, they will decide
whether it makes the most sense to hand out additional food during the RSU pick
up times or also offer evening hours for families that are not able to pick up
food during the day.
Due
to recent circumstances, many families have met with some financial challenges.
“Some
folks have not been able to access unemployment benefits as a result of recent
layoffs due to COVID-19,” Rep. Fay said. “As a result, it has affected some families’
ability to feed their children, pay the mortgage and pay other bills. I’m
concerned about how they can feed their family, and this is a great solution.”
If
you want to support this program, please visit www.raymondmaine.org or the Town of Raymond’s Facebook
page, https://www.facebook.com/TownofRaymondMaine/
for more
information.
There
are heroes everywhere and they certainly exist in Raymond.
“This
is typical of the Raymond community – coming together and supporting one
another in times of need,” Raymond Town Manager, Don Willard said. <
