Times might be trying, but struggling local families needn’t go hungry this summer.

The Medway Public Library might have been closed due to Covid-19 fears, but its summer lunch program is still running to keep local families fed, and its program complements that of local school lunch programs, running Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 12 Noon until 1 p.m.

This is the 4th year we’ve been doing it, the third year we’ve been doing it three days a week,” says Perkins. The very first year, the program was done just once a week, she says. 

“There’s a number of organizations that have donated money or food,” says Perkins. Makerspace coordinator Diane Busa, who is also one of the co-presidents of the Friends of the Medway Public Library, works other Friends co-president Meg Hamilton to garner donations from the community. Sponsors this year include the Medway Lions Club, Restaurant 45, Medway Oil & Propane Inc., Shaws, Stop & Shop, Walgreens, BJ’s Wholesale Club, the Mahan Circle Food Pantry, Roche Bros., Market Basket, Pizzeria Uno and several anonymous residents. Perkins adds that the Medway Village Food Pantry had also donated snacks for the Medway Library’s afterschool snack program, “which barefly got underway before we shut down. Once school starts up again, we will again offer this program,” she says.

Obviously, she says, the summer lunch program at the library looks different this year. 

“Years past, it was a communal lunch, where people come and play (following story hour),” says Perkins. “Unfortunately, all that is missing this year. We’re doing (bagged lunch) on a grab-and-go basis. Everyone gets a sandwich and a fruit cup or snack, and dessert,” she says. Lunches are set up outside, in the style of curbside pickup, and participants are asked to keep social distance and wear masks. “It’s not quite the same, but it’s better than nothing,” says Perkins, “very similar to what we do with the books we’re circulating.”