RUMFORD — Brande Vining, Sarah O’Leary and Shannon Scott took their children to the playground at Rumford Elementary School on Wednesday morning to have some outside fun.

After a couple of hours, the youngsters were getting hungry, so into the school they went to share in the first free lunch program in the region.

“It’s a great place to come,” fifth-grader Kennedy Hamner said.

“We’ll come again,” Mackenzie Downs, also fifth-grader, said.

While most of the nearly 70 who ate lunch were participants in the Summer Adventures program, funded by a 21st Century federal grant, any child from preschool through age 18 is welcome to have breakfast at 8:30 a.m. or lunch at 11:30 a.m., Regional School Unit 10 Food Service Director Jeanne LaPointe said.

“We hope to attract more walkers,” she said.

The free meals, of which used some locally grown fruits and vegetables, will continue through July and possibly into the first two weeks of August. The summer feeding grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“There are many throughout the state and some are collaborating with local recreation programs or summer school,” LaPointe said. “Maine is the most food insecure state in New England. Food stamps and other assistance only go so far and jobs are hard to find.”

On Wednesday, lettuce and strawberries were among the locally grown produce served for lunch.

Although RSU 10 schools have at least a 50 percent participation rate in free or reduced lunches during the school year, LaPointe said the increase in the cost of food for all families has made it difficult for them.

The summer feeding program is a collaboration of the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition, the Oxford County Extension Service and the local school district.

A grant recently made it possible for Rumford Elementary School to be one of the schools to receive two raised beds, Allie Burke, director of the Summer Adventures program, said.

LaPointe hopes to introduce the raised beds later in the year.

Karen Madero, food production manager at Rumford Elementary School during the school year, was also the manager, with the help of several volunteers, for the summer feeding program.

“It’s a good thing for the community. We saw new faces today. One boy came in (by himself) with a backpack and had lunch,” she said.

Jacob Miele, an eighth-grader, volunteers to count the number of youngsters who come in for lunch, and University of Maine nutrition student Eliza Cormier has also volunteered to help out.

LaPointe said sometimes children lose nutritional ground over the summer and some actually gain weight because they aren’t eating properly.

The nutritious breakfasts and lunches also address that.

A similar summer meals program is happening at the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School in Sumner for children in that region during July.

“It’s a nice opportunity for the families with the economy the way it is now,” Rumford Elementary School Principal Anne Chamberlin said.

“We want families to feel welcome,” LaPointe said.