To all those people claiming humanity is in shambles and moral values are dead- you have no idea what you are talking about. Yes, humanity has certainly taken some hits to the chest, but it is still very much out there. People still believe in kindness, and people still enforce civility.
This is a true event from Watertown, New York, where a citizen named Roman Espinoza has built a ‘blessing box’- essentially a pantry, for people to pick up and food at any point of the day. The box is built in the lawn facing their house, and just like Little free libraries, there are no restrictions for these, either.
The concept is extremely simple- the box contains food that people donate- the same food others might want. To put it even more simply, the box was simply a donation box, where the poor ate, and the not-so-poor, donated.
Espinoza, in an interview with CNN, mentioned that the box was open 24 hours of the day, with no lock. Anyone could donate food, and anyone could pick it out.
The Idea Gets Formulated
It hit the army veteran on his Human Services class at a community college, that people who took classes this late couldn’t possibly have much to eat. Also, the community college he was taking his classes at, also had a pantry for needy students. With the cogs turning in his head, he decided to do the same for his own home. While he did have to fill in the first amount of food for the box, he didn’t have to do much since. The idea was one that got unanimous support from the community, and his block.
Not Just Food
Contrary to the name, the box isn’t just for food. It contains essential items like shampoo, toothbrush, soap among other things which people do need. The surprise remains in who actually uses it. For, most people are quite ashamed of using it in the middle of the day, since no one would want to show that they are impoverished. But, since the box remains empty by the end of the night, someone did use it.
The Future
Espinoza believes that if more people were made aware of this interesting development, the number of such boxes would increase manifold. As it stands, there have been several requests made to him by other property owners who would love to install such boxes out in their lawns. Espinoza hopes that one day Watertown, in the next 5 years would be known as the ‘city of Blessing boxes.’