Paxton's Blessing Boxes
Paxton’s Blessing Box (PBB) started from a simple idea that Maggie Ballard saw on social media back in August 2016. She shared the photo with her son, Paxton, then age six, and they both felt that their house would be the perfect place for a Blessing Box to fill with non-perishable food and hygiene products for those in need. Shortly afterwards they enlisted the skills of a handy friend who built the first Blessing Box. Maggie and Paxton placed it in their front yard and painted it bright crimson red, their favorite color. Next, they filled it with food and personal hygiene products and it’s been stocked by donations ever since, going through roughly $500-$600 a week in groceries! Boxes have been added each year since that initial one. Currently, there are 87 Blessing Boxes scattered throughout the Wichita area, Kansas towns and other states!
What they love about their program is that it provides a little bit of anonymity. No ID's. No questions. No judgment. “Take a blessing when you need one and leave a blessing when you can!” is their motto. There is a huge increase in children visiting a lot of their locations when school is not in session. Popular items for the kids are as follows: crackers, chips, juice boxes, water, granola bars, pop tarts...No child should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from!
Maggie and Paxton’s goals continue to be adding new PBB locations across the United States along with increasing partnerships to help with organizing a food drive, sorting food, getting boxes of food ready for hosts to pick up for their location and making sure food isn't out of date. All that is needed it the same passion and love to help feed those in need. Through the support of the ICT community, they believe that everyone involved can make a positive change in a person’s life, one BLESSING at a time.
Our club recently sponsored the installation of a Blessing Box at Lawrence Elementary which the staff is in charge of overseeing.
TODAY’S MEETING: Please bring non-perishable foods and hygiene items that can be donated to Paxton’s Blessing Boxes.