WINDHAM – Facing a lack of attendance, administrators of the Windham free summer lunch program discontinued the initiative for the season after the last meal on July 16.

The two-year-old program, which moved from its previous location at the Avesta Housing Development on Depot Street to the former John Andrews School at 55 High St. this summer, provided free bag lunches at noon on weekdays for children. The free lunches were funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program.

The South Windham meal site is managed, along with eight others across the Lakes Region, from Saint Joseph’s College in Standish. After a week of exceptionally low attendance, the decision was made to end the Windham program for the summer, said Amy Russell, the pantry organizer for Catherine’s Cupboard food pantry in Standish Town Hall.

“For five straight days we had not one kid come,” Russell said.

According to Russell, demand for free lunches remains high across the Lakes Region. Russell said that the condemning of the 17-tenant apartment building at 9 Main St. in South Windham in late June had potentially contributed to the poor attendance.

“Almost all of the families that we served last year have moved out of that area,” Russell said.

Marge Govoni, the chairwoman of the Regional School Unit 14 Board of Directors, said she had notified parents of the free lunch program and was surprised by the poor turnout.

“I thought we advertised it well,” Govoni said. “We had sent things home with the kids at the end of school, flyers, we had advertised within the neighborhood, but I don’t know, it just didn’t seem to draw them.”

Last year, the average daily attendance at the South Windham site was 13, according to Michelle Lamm, the program manager for the Portland-based Maine Hunger Initiative, which has encouraged the development of the Summer Food Service Program in the Lakes Region during the past few years.

In Gray and New Gloucester, participation has jumped this year, according to Amy Bacon, the food and nutrition supervisor for School Administrative District 15.

“Business is booming here in New Gloucester,” Bacon said. “We’ve been feeding lots and lots of kids.”

The Gray-New Gloucester Free Summer Lunch site has expanded from two to four meal sites this year. While the program distributed roughly 40 meals daily last summer, that number has unexpectedly jumped to 150 this year, Bacon said.

Bacon said about half the meals are consumed by “food insecure” people, many of whom rely on the federal National School Lunch program during the school year.

“There are children in our communities – even in Windham, even in Gray and New Gloucester – there are hungry children,” Bacon said. “This is one more way to reach those families. A lot of our families rely on the National School Lunch program during the school year to stretch their food dollars, their budget, and in the summer, unless we run these summer meal programs, that’s eight or 10 weeks that we don’t have that benefit.”

Similarly, Russell sees substantial demand for free summer lunches across the Lakes Region.

“I really think it’s an exception,” Russell said, referring to the South Windham site. “We’re quite busy at most of the other sites.”

From 2010-2012, an average of 14.9 percent of Mainers experienced low food security, according to the USDA. According to the Maine Children’s Alliance, the percentage of Maine children eligible for subsidized school meals under the National School Lunch program has increased since the 2009-2010 school year, when 43.1 percent, or 80,478 children, were eligible for either free or reduced-price meals. In the 2013-14 school year, 46.8 percent, or 86,473 children, were eligible for subsidized meals.

Eligibility for meal subsidies is determined by family income. During the 2013-2014 school year, a child from a family of four with an annual income below $30,615 was eligible for free meals. Children from four-person families making between $30,615 and $43,568 were eligible for reduced-price meals.

With the exception of students at School Administrative District 61, which includes Bridgton, Casco, Naples and Sebago, eligibility for subsidized lunches in the Lakes Region trends lower than the state average.

In the 2012-2013 school year, the schools in Windham and Raymond had the lowest eligibility for subsidized lunches in the region, at 36.4 percent, according to the Maine Department of Education. SAD 61 schools had the highest eligibility, with an average of 52.66 percent of students eligible for subsidized lunches. SAD 15, which includes the Gray-New Gloucester schools, had 36.77 percent eligibility, while SAD 6, which includes Standish, had 39.71 percent eligibility.

Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton had the highest subsidized lunch eligibility in the Lakes Region with 62.75 percent. Gray-New Gloucester High School had the lowest, at 32.81 percent.

According to Lamm, many children and their families do not take advantage of the federal meal programs.

“Of the kids that qualify, only 18 percent of them are eating a summer meal,” she said. “About 70 percent of eligible kids are eating lunch, and only 18 percent are eating summer meals.”

In towns, like most in the Lakes Region, where less than 50 percent of students are eligible for subsidized meals, administrators are allowed to set up meal sites in specific areas where more than 50 percent of children are eligible. Since South Windham is an area where 50 percent or more of children are eligible, she said, efforts will continue to provide free summer meals there next summer.

“We’re all torn up about this,” Russell said. “But you have to be accountable and you have to put your best foot forward and do your best.”

“We’re not giving up on this site,” she added.

Annaka Miller, 7, a Gray resident and second-grader at Russell Elementary School, enjoys a free meal inside a free summer lunch tent set up at 23 North Raymond Road in Gray. While Gray’s free lunch site feeds about 150 kids a day, lack of attendance has closed the Windham meal site. Gray-New Gloucester Middle School students Jeffrey Valliere, 11, and Mason Lessard, 12, enjoy a free meal at the Gray site.Stephanie Libby and Wendy Ordway, of New Gloucester, prepare free meals at Gray-New Gloucester High School for the Free Summer Lunch program.