Several Leelanau County schools received a surprise gift of hand sanitizer from Northern Latitudes Distillery in Lake Leelanau to start off the school year.

Jane Grishaw, a K-2 virtual teacher at Suttons Bay Schools tells the Leelanau Ticker that distillery staff delivered 24 gallons of hand sanitizer, plus several cases of 4-ounce spray bottles, to Suttons Bay Schools last Monday. “No one requested it, they just delivered it,” she says. “It was our teacher day, and after our morning meetings we were sent back to our rooms with several of the 4-ounce bottles, which we can refill from the gallons, whenever needed.”

Northern Latitudes Distillery has been producing and selling hand sanitizer on-site since mid-March.  Hundreds of gallons of Northern Latitudes hand sanitizer have also been provided free of charge to EMTs in both Leelanau and Grand Traverse County. Last week co-owners Mandy and Mark Moseler — who are both former Michigan public school teachers — decided to contact nearby superintendents and principals with the offer of cases of this now-essential back-to-school supply.

Deliveries were also made to Leland, Northport, and Leelanau Montessori schools, and it was also offered to St. Mary Catholic School.

Grishaw says she was moved by an act of “county people doing good for other county people.”

Says Mandy Moseler, “It is something that our schools need. This year has been a journey…and I am just so grateful to have our business.” In October, Northern Latitudes Distillery will celebrate its eighth year operating in Lake Leelanau.