Carin White, of North Haverhill, N.H., looks with her children through the lunch backpacks given out to families at the "Kids Summer Fun Lunch Program" at Woodsville Elementary School in Woodsville, N.H., on August 18, 2017. With White are Cassidy Ash, 10, left, George Ash III, 11, Danielle Hallam, 15, and Cameron Ash, 8. The program is sponsored by the Cottage Hospital Auxiliary and Cottage Hospital. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Carin White, of North Haverhill, N.H., looks with her children through the lunch backpacks given out to families at the "Kids Summer Fun Lunch Program" at Woodsville Elementary School in Woodsville, N.H., on August 18, 2017. With White are Cassidy Ash, 10, left, George Ash III, 11, Danielle Hallam, 15, and Cameron Ash, 8. The program is sponsored by the Cottage Hospital Auxiliary and Cottage Hospital. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Woodsville — As the song goes, when school’s out for the summer, it means no more pencils and no more books. For many children, summer also can mean no more lunch.

A pilot program by Cottage Hospital and its Auxiliary is working to address that.

At Woodsville Elementary School on a recent Friday, 40 or 50 youngsters attended the “Kids Summer Fun Lunch Program,” which was designed to help meet the nutrition and food challenges area children often face during the summer.

“When school is in session, most of these challenges can be met,” Stephanie Chase, executive assistant at Cottage Hospital and one of the organizers of the event, said in an email, “but for many, the challenges are much more difficult during the summer.”

Modeled on national programs, the organizers of the Woodsville event tailored theirs to the specific needs of their communities. Nearly 40 percent of the students in SAU 23, which includes the towns of Haverhill, Bath, Piermont, Benton and Warren, face food and nutritional challenges each day, Chase said.

For lunch on this day at Woodsville Elementary, the children had hot dogs, applesauce, fruit cups, pretzels, fresh fruit, milk from Hatchland Farms in North Haverhill, and water.

They also received backpacks to take home that contained instant oatmeal, cans of soup, ravioli and vegetables, a box of macaroni and cheese, a fruit cup, crackers, a fresh apple, shelf-stable milk, a juice box, and a bottle of water.

Volunteers organized activities for the children, including an obstacle course, and members of the Haverhill Police Department and Woodsville Fire & Rescue dropped by for a visit.

Information about nutrition, safety and available community services was offered.

About 25 members of the hospital’s Auxiliary, leadership and staff, and board of trustees helped out.

This was the program’s only event this year. The hope is to be able to offer more programs during the summer in the future, and organizers would like to get members of the community involved.

“Our event gave the opportunity for kids to come out and have some fun while providing them with a lunch and a backpack of food for a weekend of meals and snacks,” Chase said.

Editor’s note: To help with future summer lunch programs, email schase@cottagehospital.org or call 603-747-9244. Jennifer Hauck can be reached at jhauck@vnews.com. Ernie Kohlsaat can be reached at ekohlsaat@vnews.com.