WINONA LAKE – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana awarded the Charles D. Smith Award to Maple Leaf Farms and the Tucker family during the Sixth Annual BIG Celebration on Tuesday at the Winona Heritage Room. Established in 2015 and named in honor of its inaugural recipient, this accolade recognizes an individual or individuals who demonstrate passionate volunteerism, strong community leadership and a lifelong commitment to serving others, according to a news release from BBBS. Maple Leaf Farms is a dedicated and critical partner in strengthening the future and state of well-being in the Kosciusko County community, the release states. Founded by Donald Wentzel in 1958, Maple Leaf Farms started out as a small duck farm in Northern Indiana. Today, Maple Leaf Farms is North America’s leading producer of quality duck products, supplying retail and foodservice markets throughout the world with value-added foods. The release states the Tucker family “firmly believes their values of commitment to family and community serve as the foundation for the company’s success. Their passion shows in everything that they do.” Demonstrating their continuous commitment to community, Maple Leaf Farms has donated more than 17 tons of poultry products to Indiana food banks and pantries in an effort to help these hunger-relief organizations serve a continuous need in the state. Their sustainability efforts impact the farmers they partner with and the communities where their employees live, work and raise their families. Maple Leaf Farms has also supported Big Brothers Big Sisters as a donor and advocate that has helped the agency grow into the mentoring organization that it is. Maple Leaf Farms’ financial contributions and in-kind donations have helped bring programming into the area, providing mentoring services to Littles so that they will have the opportunity to reach their full potential in life. The Tucker family defends potential by volunteering as Big Brothers & Big Sisters and invests their time and talent as mentors to youth in need. The Charles D. Smith Award was established in 2015 and recognizes an individual or individuals who demonstrate passionate volunteerism, strong community leadership and a lifelong commitment to serving others. Past recipients include Tom Roy (2016), Ernie Wiggins (2017) and the K21 Health Foundation (2018).
