EAST PENNSBORO TOWNSHIP, Pa. - A Cumberland County parent received recognition for her hard work and service to the community.
Leanne Klab is this year's winner of Direct Energy's Volunteer Citizen of the Year award. The company honored Kalb for creating and managing East Pennsboro Area School District's food distribution program called PantherPack.
PantherPack started out as a pilot program, helping 50 families in the district. It has since grown to serve students K-12 who are in need. The program fills backpacks with nutritional food each week for every student enrolled in the program.
During Wednesday evening's ceremony, Direct Energy presented a $5,000 donation to the to East Pennsboro Education Foundation. The money will be used to help with the Pantherpack program’s expansion to serve middle school and high school students in the 2015-2016 school year.
" It's huge," Kelb said. "It's going to help by months of food for kids we're hoping to be able to introduce fresh produce; we're hoping that we could eventually raise money for a refrigerator so that we can put meat in their bags."
The first PantherPack pick up for students will start in October and will continue weekly through the end of May 2016.