We have lived together in Maine for 30 years and we have never been happier to live in Maine than we are today. Our neighbors are checking on us and we are checking on them. And our political leaders, both locally and on the state level, are working hard to see that no one is forgotten.

As individuals who have worked in education, we know school children went from sitting in class and the lunchroom with all of their friends one day, to being told they will learn from home the next for an uncertain period of time with no opportunities for social contact with peers. Our questions immediately were: what happens to children who rely on school lunch as their main source of food for the day? What happens to children whose homes are not a safe place, or who have no home at all?

State officials received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow schools the ability to provide meals offsite to students if the school currently has or will qualify for a USDA Food Service Program.

If leaders like Gov. Mills, Speaker Sara Gideon, and Senate President Troy Jackson hadn’t acted so quickly in response to Maine school closures due to COVID-19, ask yourself how many Maine children would have been left hungry. They are leaders who are saving lives—not putting people at higher risk – every day and who we need to remember with our votes in November.

Stephen and Nancy Farrand

Freeport