NORTH NORWICH – School may be out, but the DCMO BOCES Chenango and Harrold campuses will continue to provide students with free meals throughout the summer.

With schools wrestling the economic crisis and attempting to balance budgets with cuts to summer school, Food Service Director at BOCES Kim Corcoran said she worried about where some children would receive a meal during the months until fall.

“We have all of these kids out for the summer and we didn’t know if they were eating or not,” said Corcoran. “We just wanted to have another way for them to get meals.”

Corcoran was made aware in May of ten districts under her management eligible for funding provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She now works with the USDA in order to receive the funds and distribute them amongst the six groups participating through BOCES.

“Each school has its own budget, staff and sponsor so that each is effectively running their own Summer Feeding Program, with BOCES managing and orchestrating the menus and distribution of money,” she said.

Many of the programs will also run in conjunction with local child and youth exercise programs, said Corcoran.

New Berlin, for example, will have a jogging/walking/bicycling program in the morning before breakfast and a recreational activity period between then and lunch.

The Summer Feeding Program in Sherburne is located in Paddleford Park and will work with the summer swim lessons taught each day.