TONTOGANY – The Knights are adding an armory to their castle.

Otsego Local Schools doesn’t want any child to go hungry so it is adding a building that will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to allow district students and parents to pick up food.

Jessica Vollmar, who is the adviser for the district’s Knights Have Your Back program, said staff and students call the high school the castle, and an armory provides needed provisions.

“These are just everyday items people need that we take for granted, and our students are lacking,” Vollmar said.

Knights Have Your Back was created five years ago to provide kids with non-perishable food to take home over the weekend. Club members place the food in bags and deliver them to the elementary and an adult will distribute it into youngsters’ backpacks. Backpacks are placed in the lockers of the upper-grade students.

This program has grown drastically since its development in 2017 and is currently providing food to over 25 Otsego families each week with over 4,000 backpacks distributed.

“But we feel we can do more,” Vollmar said.

The Knights Have Your Back program will be a located in a standalone building outside of the high school. It will provide access to non-perishable foods, hygiene products and other necessities to help make students more successful. The armory will never close to ensure that at any time a Knight needs it, they will have access to items that fulfill their basic needs.

It is “for anyone who might need it,” Vollmar said.

Vollmar said she has been planning the armory since January, and to date has raised $12,000 of the $20,000 needed to build the shed, which will be 14 feet by 20 feet. There will be locked storage on one side and security cameras.

“It’s been a really great experience,” she said about the work she has done so far.

Vollmar hopes to open the armory next spring.

The intent was to have construction students from Penta Career Center build the shed, but the district’s new industrial technology instructor expressed excitement over the prospect of having his classes do the build, she said.

It is a place the community can stop and grab something to eat if access to food is no longer available at home.

“I don’t want to think about any kids going hungry,” Vollmar said.

The armory also will have the basic necessities such as soap, shampoo and laundry detergent.

She said Knights Have Your Back is going to begin providing winter coats and mittens on request, or even prom tickets, with pickup at the armory.

“This will eliminate the need for teachers to purchase that stuff,” Vollmar said.

“If we can eliminate hunger … we can change the whole dynamic of that child’s life,” she added.

Vollmar said the location of the armory has not yet been finalized and she is asking First Solar to donate solar panels to provide free electricity. The building also will be heated, and, in the future, she hopes to add refrigeration to provide milk and eggs.

She said it will be a safe place where students can pick up requested items without the fear of being noticed by classmates.

Donations may be made through https://knightshaveyourback.square.site/.