Summer is a time for kids to get a break from school and have some fun. But it's also a time when hunger can become a problem, as kids don't have access to school breakfast and lunch programs.
Maine has hundreds of summer meal sites where kids can get free lunches throughout the week. But the program only has about an 18 percent participation rate.
Summer meal programs across the state are trying to boost their numbers.
Every weekday, lunch is delivered to Peppermint Park in Portland, where anyone ages 18 and under can eat for free. On this Tuesday, as soon as the boxes of meals arrive, kids crowd around Lynn McGrath as she unwraps the options.
"Do you want a chicken wrap or do you want peanut butter and jelly?" she says.
McGrath is from the Opportunity Alliance, which is one of the sponsors of the summer meals program in Portland.
"We have about 24 locations around Portland and Cumberland County and this is one of our newer ones," she says. "It's one of the ones we felt was really important because it's in a really high risk neighborhood for kids."
McGrath and others are trying to spread the word that these free lunches, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are available.
USDA Program Specialist Greg Piotrowicz says about 23 million kids across the U.S. take part in the National School Lunch Program during the school year, but once school is out, the number who participate in the Summer Food Service Program takes a dive to under four million.