In the summer of 2017, Kennedy Thomason and her friends in the youth group at St. Luke’s UMC in Denton were looking for a community project when Kennedy took a reference from her mother Katie and turned it into a great way to help the needy in the county.
Teaming up with the group Sweet Caroline as well as other volunteers, they built four miniature food pantries to be placed outside, giving 24-hour access to non-perishable foods and toiletries to those less fortunate who might need a helping hand. They referred to these three-shelved pantries as “Blessing Boxes.”
“My mom actually saw a story on Facebook about a mother and her son making these boxes that people could put food in so that the needy could get whatever they needed. He had turned it into a class project for his youth group,” said Kennedy. “I researched and read about it. It seemed like the kind of project we could easily do together, and one that would benefit our community.”
With the help of several of the adults from her church with carpentry skills and the necessary tools, Kennedy, then 16, and her friends constructed four “blessing boxes”, each similar in shape and size, which they then distributed to local churches, including St. Luke’s, which was the first to be put into place.
“While we built the boxes, the boys dug the holes to put the boxes in, then we took them to the church and painted them,” she explained.
Now, four years later, the program is still going strong and has expanded to seven locations near churches from Federalsburg to Goldsboro. The identifiable boxes are stocked by volunteers with non-perishable goods, plus toiletries, that they feel will benefit the needy. There are no qualifications or pre-screening to donate the items, or to take them. It’s really set up as a “It’s pretty much whatever you want to donate,” Kennedy said. “Then what you take is pretty much through the Honor System.”
The pantries have become a popular way for the community to provide food to the needy, and for those in need to get items and food without necessarily having to go to a food pantry. “I am very happy to see the blessing boxes are still being filled and that they seem to stay stocked,” said Kennedy. “I, myself, keep some items in the back of my car and fill them if I see them running low. And I have seen others who are filling the boxes.”
Kennedy is now 19 and attends Chesapeake College. Since her tween years, she’s been a volunteer for many projects and is currently serving her reign as Woman of the Year, a distinction she earned for raising $64,000 last year for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. “I guess doing things for other people and helping other people makes me happy,” she said, when asked where her community-mindedness comes from.
One individual who has also taken upon themselves to become a supporter of the blessing boxes is Joanna Reedy, who lives in Marydel and has taken the boxes on as part of her “Food Mission.” Her involvement carries the food ministry to the northern end of the county where food boxes are located at churches in Greensboro and Goldsboro.
“They are badly needed in the northern end of the county where there are a lot of hungry families who could use something to eat, even if only for a night, but might not be able to buy food for themselves,” Reedy said she makes it a weekly ritual to purchase items from local food stores then check boxes on her drive home from Easton or Denton. If she finds a box in Ridgely, Greensboro or Goldsboro that is low on supplies, she will restock it.
Items can run anywhere from peanut butter, popcorn or ramen noodles, to larger food items such as canned fruit or vegetables. Kennedy said she’ll even stock such items as toothpaste, Kleenex and the like.
Surprisingly, both ladies say they see less “theft” of items than one might expect. “I worried about somebody coming and just cleaning everything out all at once. It happened a few times early on, but not so much anymore,” Reedy said.
Kennedy takes a different approach to anyone who might take everything for themselves. “I try to approach it that if they needed to take everything, then they must really need it all,” Kennedy said. “The Lord provides in different ways.
To Reedy, the personal reward is making the food available to those who need it without them having to be self-conscious about their plight. In fact, a motto on each box addresses the issue of taking only what is needed. “Take What You Need. Leave What You Can. Little Is Much in the Masters’ Hands”. “It’s an anonymous act of kindness, or of having a need to feed your family,” Reedy said.
Reedy and Kennedy would like to see more Blessing Boxes go up around the county. Reedy, for instance, said she knows areas in Marydel and Henderson which would be well served. “The upper part of the county is underserved and often overlooked,” Reedy said. Reedy said she knows a few more places where the blessing boxes might be needed. “Now, it’s as much a matter of finding someone to build the boxes,” she said. “The local churches have been very good in supporting the program and people seem to want to help by filling the boxes.
“I think the idea has been supported well,” Kennedy said. “It’s such a good way for a church get involved.”
Thanks for your informatoon on the Blessing Boxes in Caroline County which are providing a great need to our community.
I would like to add two more to your list. In Ridgely: at the New Beginnings United Methodist Church,12020 Central Ave which was consecrated on Jan 26,2020 and Trinity AME Church 480 and School St established June 2020.