Edgecomb's Gretchen Burleigh-Johnson said she remembers what it was like to see students returning to her class hungry after the weekend.

They looked like they were ready to eat the woodwork.

“They can't concentrate. You can't think about learning if your stomach is growling,” she said.

Burleigh-Johnson used to teach in an alternative education program at Wiscasset High School. Now she's joining with members of St. Philip's Church in Wiscasset, the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset and other volunteers in a program they're calling “Feed Our Scholars.”

The goal is to send 40 students of Wiscasset schools home each weekend with food in their backpacks.

The group needs to raise $5,000 to launch the program in the first half of the 2013-2014 school year, or $10,000 for the entire school year. The Good Shepherd Food-Bank in Auburn offers the deal in 40-student increments. Typical supplies for a weekend might include oatmeal packets, fruit cups, soup, a couple of cans of tuna and cereal bars, Burleigh-Johnson said.

Plans are underway for fundraisers, including a fun run and walk in Wiscasset in May. The group has also put out fliers seeking donations, and would like to hear from an experienced grant-writer willing to volunteer.

Eventually, if money allows, the group would like to expand the program into the northern towns of Regional School Unit 12, Burleigh-Johnson said.

She got the idea for “Feed Our Scholars” from similar programs initiated in other districts.

St. Philip's member Robin Ford of Newcastle volunteered, in hope of helping students succeed at school. “I have kids, and I know if they were hungry I'd like to have a resource for them to go to,” Ford said.

The school district's interim superintendent, Alan Hawkins, said he is absolutely thrilled with the group's plans. “We have more and more students coming into our schools whose families sometimes are not able to fully provide for their food needs,” he said.

“I think this is a very exciting opportunity for our children who have a need for that kind of support,” Hawkins said.

The district will determine the families to offer the program to, and will protect participants' confidentiality as it does with food programs in the schools, Hawkins said.

For information on donating or volunteering, call Burleigh-Johnson at 207-882-7647, or go online at http://feedourscholars.wordpress.com. Ford can be reached about the fun run and walk at 207-607-2965.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.