Even as the cold weather sets in, students at the Wareham Middle School can now expect to get hot breakfast options in the morning.

The Fuel Up to Play 60 campaign, partnering with the Got Milk? campaign, visited Wareham Middle School Friday afternoon, to officially present a $4,000 check to the school that will go towards equipment for hot breakfasts.

The money, Food Service Manager Rob Shaheen said after the presentation, will be used to purchase a steamer, in order to heat “grab and go” breakfasts, like packaged pancake stacks and eggs sandwiches – “anything that’s in those bags, we put them in and steam them up, and have them ready for … the students.”

Shaheen said the new items will also be instituted at the other schools, as they already have equipment capable of steam heating food.

He also said the offering will further the district’s goal of getting close to 100 percent of the student population involved in the free breakfast program at the schools. Currently, the middle school has about 55 – 60 percent participation in the program. At Minot Elementary school, where students have already started receiving hot meals, Shaheen said, there was an increase of 10 – 15 percent of students taking advantage of the free breakfast program within the first few days of hot meals being offered.

“I want to get it to 80 [percent] or over [at the Middle School],” Shaheen said. “I want everyone to have the opportunity to have something. I think with more choices, we’ll get more students.”

Middle school students eat breakfast in their classrooms, because the cafeteria isn’t big enough to hold all 880-something students at the school, Shaheen said. Kids pick their breakfasts from kiosks set up at three different areas of the school, so they can be closer to their homerooms or first classes.