MEXICO — Regional School Unit 10 nutrition director Jeanne LaPointe told directors Monday evening that the district provides meals and after-school snacks with funds from the National School Lunch Program.

The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Services to help fight hunger and to provide low-cost healthy meals to children.

RSU 10 provides breakfast, lunch, a fresh fruit and vegetable program, an after-school snack program and summer meal program, LaPointe said.

“The federal program reimburses every meal that we serve, but tries to fully-fund free meals and partially funds reduced meals,” she said. “There’s like 30 cents that we receive from the federal government in addition to what the family pays (for reduced-price meals),” Lapointe said.

During the summer, RSU 10 feeds children free lunches at Mountain Valley Middle School and at the Rumford Public Library.

“Just by being there in the middle of town, we feed (55 to 70) children per day,” LaPointe said.

Lapointe showed directors examples of the foods RSU 10 processes as part of the USDA food processing program, which allows school districts to contract with commercial food processors to convert raw bulk USDA foods into more convenient, ready-to-use products. LaPointe said the district processes items such as flatbread, dried and frozen fruits, pizza, chicken, cheese and flour.

In other business, the board approved a three-day trip to Montreal in May for Mountain Valley High School and Dirigo High School students. Mountain Valley High School French teacher Marie Russell presented the plans, along with Dirigo High School’s French teacher.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

Jeanne LaPointe, nutrition director for Regional School Unit 10, tells school board directors about U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that are monitored by the Maine Department of Education. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times)