More children at Wiscasset schools will soon be going home with weekend food, thanks to the community’s continued support and a cut in the food’s cost, Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars Chairman Gretchen Burleigh-Johnson said.

Good Shepherd Food Bank has lowered its rate from $250 a year for each student served, to $225, Burleigh-Johnson, of Edgecomb, said.

In January, Feed Our Scholars will expand from its current count of 56 primary and middle school students served, to 80, including children in the Head Start program housed at Wiscasset Primary School.

“Early intervention is very important, so the sooner you get children supported, the more you can improve their potential,” she said. “It’s very gratifying to know that the children we’re going to be able to access can grow better physically and intellectually.”

Wiscasset Primary School Principal Mona Schlein said children are not ready to learn and be engaged in activities when they come to school without having enough to eat over the weekend.

“We cannot believe the generosity and the outpouring of the community in what they’re providing for our students,” Schlein said about the Feed Our Scholars program.

Two Wiscasset churches, St. Philip’s and First Congregational, started Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars with the help of other volunteers and Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.

Inmates at the Route 1 facility fill bags with the food that Feed Our Scholars buys from Good Shepherd Food Bank. Then volunteer drivers take the bags to the schools. School staffs determine who gets the bags. The schools consider all students’ needs, whether the students live in Wiscasset, Alna, Westport Island or elsewhere, Burleigh-Johnson said.

Because Wiscasset High School has a food pantry, Feed Our Scholars focuses its efforts on Wiscasset Primary School and Wiscasset Middle School, Burleigh-Johnson said. The increased count of 80 students served is twice the number served when the group launched the program in the fall of 2013.

“We’re hoping the community will continue to be behind the initiative,” she said.

A bake sale is set for Saturday, Dec. 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Shaw’s in Wiscasset. Other upcoming fundraisers include a New Year’s Day yoga activity at St. Philip’s, with certified yoga instructor Susan Gallagher of Westport Island. The event is set for 11 a.m., Jan. 1, in the parish hall. For more, contact Gallagher at 207-522-2188 or susan_gllghr@yahoo.com.

Feed Our Scholars has been named as one of the causes that will benefit from sales of ornaments made in the Wiscasset Community Center’s after-school program, Burleigh-Johnson said.

“I really love that kids are stepping up to help their peers,” she said. “It's nice to know that the next generation is learning that we all need a leg up once in a while and that it's right for them to help however and whenever they can.”

For information on donating to Feed Our Scholars or volunteering, leave a message at St. Philip’s, at 207-882-7184; or visit the committee’s Facebook page or www.feedourscholars.wordpress.com. The committee is looking for another volunteer driver to help transport the food from the jail to the schools, Burleigh-Johnson said.