Blessing Box comes to NB

NORTH BALTIMORE — More blessings are coming to the North Baltimore community. A new "Blessing Box" has been installed on East State Street between Tarr Street and the North Baltimore Marathon station on South Main Street. Similar to a Little Free Pantry, these boxes are stocked with food given by community members that is available for anyone to take with no strings attached. The box – along with seven others – were built and installed throughout Wood County by members of Christ's Church, Bowling Green. "I think they got the idea from a group called Little Free Pantry. I think they even have a website. But they just decided to call it a Blessing Box," said North Baltimore resident Sue Miklovic. Sue and her husband, JP, are members of the church and owners of the property where the Blessing Box now stands. The boxes were one of the many activities completed this summer during Mission Week at the church, she said. "They just come up with a variety of service projects that we can do all over town (Bowling Green), and every year they're different," she said. This year, members worked on the grounds at the Portage Wood Lane group homes; helped make improvements at the Nest, a child care agency in Bowling Green; participated in the city's beautification program; worked on projects at Simpson Park; and built a shed for Habitat for Humanity of Wood County. "And it's pretty regular that we go to the nursing homes and do fingernail painting and singing and bingo," she added. Blessing Boxes were a new project this year, they said. "Someone had the idea about the Blessing Box, and they're like, well, let's not just keep them in Bowling Green. Let's spread them around the county as far as we can," said Sue. A total of eight boxes were built and located in places where people agreed to look after them, she explained. "Everyone's familiar with the ones that have the books in them that you can borrow. So this is still kind of taking people by surprise to see food in the box that you can give and you can take," she said. The church also provided two boxes of food and personal hygiene items to initially stock the box. "And I feel like ours has just kind of taken off from there," said Sue. "People have come by and put things in it." The couple checks the box several times a day. They've even provided a bench for extra donations or garden produce. "And then of course she likes to buy things that are on sale so that we can supplement what's being given as well," said JP. "And it's not just food by the way." Among the more popular items taken so far are rolls of toilet paper and deodorant for men and women. "That was like the first thing taken was men's deodorant which took us by surprise," said Sue. She likes to encourage people to leave items that don't require a utensil for opening as well as single-serve packages. Suggestions include soup, tuna fish, SpaghettiOs, fruit, cereal, granola bars, microwave popcorn, chips, noodles and rice, along with single rolls of toilet paper placed in a baggie, deodorant and toothpaste. "We're trying to think of who realistically is probably going to visit there," she explained. "There's certainly a need so that's what it's all about," added JP. And although there is an active food pantry in town located at Bridge Fellowship, this is the only Blessing Box where there are no requirements attached, they said. "No questions, no judgement," said Sue. Although it has only been up about a month, people have already been thanking the couple for bringing the Blessing Box to town. "There's certainly a need," said JP. "There's a lot of stuff going on in North Baltimore right now, and there are a lot of people falling through the cracks. Hopefully we catch of few of them with this."