Mary Knapke places food items in the Blessing Box.
Dean Brown | The Lima News
LIMA — Blessing boxes are free-standing pantry boxes that are kept stocked with non-perishable food items such as boxes of cereal, canned foods, pasta, peanut butter and jelly, fruit cups and personal care items. They are available around the clock to those in need.
A blessing box now stands in the gardens at the corner of Spring and Collett Streets. Its existence comes from an idea and a cooperative effort.
The idea was initiated by Laurie Camper, an employee of Mercy Health – St. Rita’s. “In January I was putting some groceries in a blessing box in front of my church on Shawnee Road. It occurred to me that I had never seen a blessing box in downtown Lima. I thought that Lima needs some blessing boxes closer to the city. Being an employee of St Rita’s, it occurred to me that we needed to get St. Rita’s involved. I asked around, got referred to proper departments. We formed a committee. Before you know it Apollo was involved and a blessing box was built for the community gardens. Now we have a system in place to collect groceries and items with the help of the employees at the hospital.”
The blessing box is located in the Giving Gardens at the corner of Spring and Collett Streets. Amy Sackman Odum, a community development strategist says, “A giving garden is one in which a person takes what they need and leaves the rest. What we started doing is taking the produce, tomatoes, radishes and greens and putting them in the box. It allows us to have a spot to make the produce available but it’s also good with dry goods coming from St. Rita’s.”
Blessing boxes are discrete and allow people to seek and receive assistance anonymously.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
