Arkansas Students Help Community Through 'Blessing Boxes' 

By BETH REED, The Hot Springs Sentinel-Record

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Students in the high school EAST program at Cutter Morning Star have created a way to give back to their community through blessing boxes.

Lisa Byrd, EAST facilitator for the high school, said the blessing boxes were made from repurposed newspaper racks donated in December from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and will hold pantry items and toiletries people in the community might need.

"(A blessing box) is just a receptacle that you put out that people in the community put food in or toiletries that people would need, and if you need it you take it," Byrd said. "And if you have it, you put it in it. And while most of the time most of us might not think we're going to need anything like that, I think we all are searching for a way to help each other, and this is just a little way that we can provide it."

Byrd said she had seen the idea for a blessing box on social media, and many tutorials explained how to build them. However, she came across one made from a repurposed newspaper rack and thought this would be the best option for her students.

Students painted the boxes and applied vinyl decals that instruct people to take what they can leave and leave what they can, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported . Byrd said she hopes people in the community start donating items to the current box located near the school. The students have made three boxes total.

"We put one at the car wash," she said. "I've put it out there on social media and people love the idea, but I haven't gotten anybody to say 'Hey, why don't you put one at our place?' So I'm hoping people will see because we're looking. We'd love to put it at two other places in our community. I've had people stop me and ask 'Do you have them out yet?' 'Where are they?' 'Can we start putting food in them?' And we haven't got the food in them yet."

Byrd said she utilized a crowdfunding website geared toward teachers, donorschoose.org, which helped fund aspects of the project including making T-shirts to sell in the community as a fundraiser. The students purchased T-shirts and used a heat press to make the shirts themselves, she said.

The box and its purpose, she said, will hopefully carry over into next year, noting she has already been asked by several people if the box is ready to be stocked.

"That's, I think, something I want to carry over into next year is creating bags of need where you throw in a toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, and put those things in there too so people can use it," she said. "And our hope is that the community does embrace it and it's not just part of us. That's part of EAST, you do these things and it's supposed to become part of the bigger picture.

"We hope people in the community drive up, buy a couple extra boxes of Vienna sausages and chips or whatever and toothpaste, and put it in and drive off. And then people who need it can take what they need. Because I know we have that need in our community."

Byrd said she is currently taking suggestions of where to place the other two blessing boxes.

"That's how you change the world, right? One blessing box at a time," she said.

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Information from: The Sentinel-Record, http://www.hotsr.com

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