I am the mother of six children and live in Oxford. Before learning about the federal summer food service program, my husband and I weren’t sure if our family would make it through the summer.

When school is in session, my children eat breakfast and lunch there, so when summer begins, our family must come up with a way to provide these meals. That is a huge financial burden and causes us to take funds away from rent, electricity and other meals each day.

Families everywhere are struggling and our children need to eat. They can’t go hungry — that is just unacceptable.

The summer food service program is very important and we need to make sure that all Maine kids can get a healthy summer meal.

I am hoping the Legislature will vote to override the governor’s veto of LD 1353, which would expand summer meals to other schools for kids like mine.

Kendra Bumpus, Oxford