“Take what you need — Leave what you can” is a very simple proposition that turned into an amazing mission for two local realtors. Melanie Inabinent, Realtor with Coldwell Banker and member of Aiken Board of Realtors, saw a mini food pantry box in the parking lot at First Baptist Church in Barnwell several years ago. She thought “Well that would be a cool thing to do in Aiken.” Not wanting to let the idea go, she mentioned it to fellow realtor, Jane Page Thompson, Carolina Real Estate Company, and after one post on Facebook, the two realtors had teamed up with volunteers to build boxes and with a financial management partner to collect the donations.
As members of Aiken Board of Realtors, both Inabinent and Thompson supported the annual Can Hunger food drive, but Melanie really thought more could be done year-round. If the first few boxes were placed on public property, they would be relatively visible from the roadways and everyone could access them. After a meeting with Mayor Rick Osbon, Library Park, Osbon Park, and Perry Park were identified as the locations for the first three boxes. With the help of Aiken City Parks, Recreation and Tourism, safe, level, and well lit locations were marked out at each park.
Not the types to let grass grow under their feet, Inabinent and Thompson jumped on the idea of installing the first three boxes on Boxing Day. This British holiday is little celebrated in America, but in Aiken it now has a special place in their hearts as the anniversary of the Aiken Blessing Box initiative.
On December 26, 2017, Mayor Osbon cut the ribbon on the first box, installed by Full Circle Fence at Library Park. Since then, Aiken Habitat for Humanity has served as the financial partner and steward of this mission; they are have a drop-off location at the Park Avenue ReStore and a Blessing Box in the parkway intersection of Orangeburg Street and Park Avenue. Flanigan’s Ice Cream, on Barnwell Avenue, is another drop-off location for donations. Fountain of Life Men’s Ministry has become the installation and building partner for the boxes, and these gentlemen recently installed boxes in Windsor and Blackville.
Aiken County Career Center students, under the guidance of Stan Johnson, have worked with the Blessing Box initiative for two school years. Students have built, painted, and installed the boxes, and even shopped for supplies for the boxes.
Aiken County Veterans Council, Homebuilders of Augusta, Solid Rock Church, Lighthouse Baptist Church Men’s Group, the Unitarian Universalist Church on Gregg Avenue, and several Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have built and installed boxes. Along Highway 421, boxes have been popping up on a consistent basis. Aiken Electric Co-op linemen spent a day building a box that they installed in Johnson, South Carolina at the Golden Harvest Food Bank. The Belvedere Women’s Club will be installing their box by the end of this year. And the Crosland Park community house has a box in the front yard.
Kennedy Middle School, J. D. Lever Elementary School, Oakwood Windsor Elementary School, University of South Carolina Aiken and the Aiken Scholars Academy, Aiken Technical College, and Center Baptist on Wire Road have boxes now, as do the Clyburn Rural Health Center and the towns of New Ellenton, Burnettown, Clearwater, Jackson, Graniteville, and Langley.
The mission is simple — if you have non-perishable food items, toiletries, water, hygiene items, diapers, canned goods, etc., feel free to leave them in the boxes that you drive past on your daily routine. Or, like a lot of parents, make a special trip with your child to stock a box, and show them that sharing is something you do every day.
Craig Scheneck of Feasters Foods on Marlboro Street established a way for people to donate online, and he delivers the food packages to various boxes that need supplies. Feasters Foods is a great place to buy supplies; they have also provided maintenance, responding quickly to fire ants and broken hinges.
Other community organizations like Sunrise Rotary, Aiken Rotary Club, and the Womens Leadership Council of the United Way, and many local volunteers, have donated to have the boxes built and stocked. Because the design meets public installation standards at every level of government from federal to local, they can be costly to construct. Without the generous support of so many in the area, the boxes themselves would not be possible.
The boxes are for everyone! If you need something and it’s there, please take it and use it. If you have something that’s extra, please leave it for someone else to use. Sometimes people need help making it to the end of the month; other times people may not have a stable source of food. The boxes are a simple way for neighbors to help neighbors. People who need to have a little extra help can find it, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, in a box nearby.
Thompson said: “One of the shocking things that happened that first Christmas when they installed the first box was that people from Germany, Australia, South Africa, England, Canada, California, Brazil, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Ohio all reached out on our Blessing Boxes Aiken Facebook page to ask for the box design so they could replicate the idea. Blessing Boxes worldwide was something neither of us could have anticipated.”
“Take what you need — Leave what you can!”
“There are thousands of anonymous donors who leave food items in the boxes and generous people who build boxes and put them up on their own property or partner with a school group, their church group, a civic organization, or their homeowners’ association to either stock a box or maintain their own. I want to say thank you to everyone who is sharing with their neighbors.”
Jane Page Thompson
Blessing Box Suggestions
