Wiscasset Elementary School first grader Daegen Marshall, 7, said the best part of his first swimming lesson at Wiscasset Community Center Friday morning was when the water would come up from the pool.

“It’s kind of like waterfalls,” sister Justine Marshall, 9, a third grader, explained. The two were having supper with brother Garrett Marshall, 10, also a third grader, and father Chuck Marshall at WES Friday night, hours after Daegen’s lesson.

The Marshalls were part of the crowd in the cafeteria for an annual community supper and raffles benefiting the swim program. The event raised $1,400, Linda Hanson said. The retired Wiscasset physical education teacher co-chaired with WES physical education teacher Daniela Marino. Both were pleased with the turnout.

“It’s wonderful to see the support of the town for education,” said Wiscasset’s district-wide assistant principal-athletic director Mandy Lewis, there with wife Amy Lewis and son Anderson Lewis, 2.

The program gives first through fourth graders eight once-a-week swimming lessons a year on the fundamentals, Marino and Lewis said.

Wiscasset’s Chris Whitmore, attending with son Tate Whitmore, 11, a WES fifth grader, said they wanted to come to support the swim program. Others interviewed said the same; and many praised the food. Marge Pooler, part of a family contingent that included granddaughter Jessica Bailey, a WES kindergarten educational technician, had macaroni and cheese, ziti and a salad.

Hanson said Theresa Meehan of the cafeteria staff volunteered two days to prepare the meal. School staff made the desserts, Hanson said. Asked why she was volunteering in retirement, Hanson said, “I want to give back to my kids.”

This year’s supper was Mona Schlein’s last as principal because she’s retiring this school year. But it won’t be her last one. “No, I’m going to keep going to this,” Schlein said, smiling as event-goers milled about before the raffle drawings got under way. Outside, several children got in a post-dinner visit to the playground. Some headed back in when other attendees came out and told them the drawings were starting.

Sixty-seven adults and 58 children attended the supper, said Andrea Main, a substitute and WES and Wiscasset Middle High School parent volunteering her Friday night to man the entrance table with fellow volunteers Lisa Hardman, WES librarian, and Lindsay Larrabee, an educational technician at the Federal Street school.

Partners in Education sponsors the program via the supper and a growing team of businesses and others working to keep the program going for years to come, Hanson said. Fourth graders raised $344 in the Dashing Dolphins Relay Races on March 24, according to information Hanson emailed later Friday evening.