Fair Trades

LEFT: Students organize the canned and boxed donations on the four shelves in the blessing box.

STORY BYALLY LANASA // PHOTO BYCONNOR KUREK

“T ake what you need. Give what you can.” That mantra is emblazoned on most of the 19 active donation boxes in Ross County, known to residents as “blessing boxes.”

The freestanding cupboard-like structures, mostly located near parks, schools and churches, are a community project to provide nonperishable foods and personal hygiene products to those in need.

“We have a lot of working poor here in Ross County,” says Bill Hickel, one of the builders of blessing boxes. “They make too much money to get food assistance, but we know what the reality is: one income just doesn’t do much these days.”

According to a 2018 report by the Ohio Department of Education, more than 2,500 Ross County students applied for a free lunch and nearly 400 students applied for a reduced-price lunch. Data from a 2017 study by Feeding America showed the food insecurity rate in Ross County was 15%.

In response to such community needs, residents like Hickel and Daniel DeGarmo, the leader of the grassroots movement, began constructing the boxes to offer constant access to supplies countywide.

Hickel’s uniform blessing boxes cost about $300, and they feature a plexiglass window, self-closing doors, sheet metal, 3/4-inch exterior plywood and yellow pine for some of the framework.

“People are starting to love others and realize there are others who aren’t nearly as fortunate as we are,” Hickel says.

Although the project has been organized and managed by adults, Ross County youth groups including local Girl Scout troops and religious organizations help stock the boxes.

For example, after Youth Sunday, the last Sunday service of the month at Bourneville Christian Union Church, the children restock a blessing box in town near Twin Dairy Hut, 11673 U.S. 50. In 2017, Bishop Flaget School installed a blessing box on campus with the sponsorship of Southern Ohio Survivors (SOS), a local program founded by breast cancer survivor Lynn Bunstine that assists people during and after treatment for life-threatening illnesses. The project teaches children from preschool to eighth grade about sacrifice and almsgiving.

“As a Catholic school, an important part of our state is care of the neighbor, and we work with the kids on the social justice issues and understanding that if we are given much, much is expected of us,” says Bishop Flaget Principal Laura Corcoran. “It’s important to us that when our kids leave Bishop Flaget, they understand that they have a responsibility to care for their fellow man.”

And in this case, the care extends beyond canned food. The students also collect personal hygiene items, gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, raincoats and school supplies. The seventh and eighth graders are responsible for filling the box with items stored in a stock room at the parochial school, says Linda Kerr, the physical education teacher at Bishop Flaget and a board member of SOS.

“When they fill the blessing box in the morning and at the end of the school day it’s empty, that really is a kind of wakeup call for them about the need in the community,” Corcoran says.

As 11,560 people in Ross County suffer from a food shortage that can diminish healthy and active lifestyles, generous residents strive to provide a blessing through nutrient-rich food.

“They can find in the box a source of a meal,” says Hickel. “We’ve had a lot of people tell us ... ‘That really got me through.’”

FOR MORE INFORMATION: on Facebook: Ross County Blessing Boxes