“KNAP Sack stands for ‘Keeping Nutrition Available Program’ and not only do we do the weekend meals at schools, but we also do a monthly food distribution that is open to anyone in the county whose family income is under 230% of the federal poverty level,” says Becky Leader, 2022 Jefferson Award Winner.
Making sure that kids and families do not go hungry is the mission behind the KNAP Sack Program helping students in Ottawa-Glandorf School District. How Becky and David Leader and Jackie and Bob Luttfring started the program could be considered divine intervention.
“We knew that there was a need here,” adds Becky Leader. “We talked to Dean Brinkman and he said hey I just had another couple come in and ask the same thing and here it was Jackie and Boes.”
“We were surprised when we talked to Dean Brinkman at school, that Becky and David had the same thing on their heart,” says Jackie Luttfring, 2022 Jefferson Award Winner. “When he put us together and we sat down and spoke to one another, we had individual strength, connections resources and it’s definitely God’s work.”
“We went to the Ottawa Food Pantry, which is at our church, and talked to them. They said why don’t you go and ask at the West Ohio Food Bank, and we did. Tommie Harner was just wonderful, she was then the COO. They gave us all kinds of guidance and they connected us with a couple of other programs that were very similar to what we wanted to do, and it just grew from there,” says Becky Leader.
“When we started, we didn’t have much money, so we just sent them home just once a month for nine months,” says Bob Luttfring, 2022 Jefferson Award Winner. “After we got the program going, then we could send it home every week for the weekend.”
“When we put together our bags at West Ohio, we said we wanted to try and get as much nutrition as possible, there is usually going to be two fruits that always go in there. But there is going to be snacks too that the kids are going to enjoy,” says David Leader, 2022 Jefferson Award Winner.
KNAP Sack is also helping out with a program at Ottawa-Glandorf schools that is teaching families about nutrition, making a healthy home-cooked meal, and the importance of eating together as a family.
“So these kids were selected by the school because the kids took a survey and some of the questions were ‘how many times a week does your family eat together? Do you enjoy eating together? Would you like to eat together more? And we are just really trying to stress togetherness and cooking together as a family and it can be fun,” states Becky Leader.
And the community has also rallied behind the KNAP Sack mission.
“It is just amazing the donation came in the mail, I cannot tell you the personal, outside the community organizations the personal donation that we get. The people’s hearts are just wonderful and we are so blessed, so blessed,” exclaimed Jackie Luttfring.
The Luttfrings and the Leaders will be recognized with the rest of the Jefferson Award winners at a banquet on April 19th. One of the winners will be picked to represent the area at the National Jefferson Awards this summer.
