AOS 98

School meal financial assistance needed

Tue, 03/31/2020 - 11:15am

Since our schools have closed, our kitchen staff has done a tremendous job continuing to provide a nutritious breakfast and lunch daily to any student who has made that request.  You would be impressed by the enthusiasm and generous spirit that our kitchen staff and the folks distributing the food have maintained.  We are giving out free bag lunches to students from in front of the elementary schools in Edgecomb, Boothbay Harbor and Southport.  Additionally, we are serving from buses in the parking lot of the YMCA and the Boothbay town office.  For students who can’t make it to those sites, we are delivering almost 100 meals to student’s homes.  Also, we prepare meals that the YMCA distributes on the weekend.

Fortunately, we will receive some state and federal funding so we can continue to serve the youth in our community.   It is our strong desire to continue this important service for as long as our schools remain closed.  Nonetheless, we could use your help.  We want to continue serving our students during the week school is normally closed in April, however, we will not receive any state funding for that time period for food, and money to pay our staff.  That expense is roughly $6,500.

What I am requesting is that if you are in a financial position to contribute to the school’s food service program, we would greatly appreciate your help. On the top of the district’s website (www.aos98schools.org) is a “Donate” link. Click and you will be directed to the Boothbay Region Education Foundation. There are multiple ways to make a tax deductible contribution to support our school’s food service operation.  Any additional money received we will use to pay off delinquent student lunch accounts for meals we serve students throughout the school year, but their parents cannot pay.

In this time of unprecedented disruption to our student’s lives, we will continue to ensure that any child in AOS 98 who wants breakfast and lunch, will be fed.  This is a very generous community.  If you can help us defray some of the unanticipated costs we are incurring, it would be greatly appreciated.