I learned today that a blessing box is neighbors sharing food with those who don't have any by buying or building a blessing box where whoever needs food can gather it in small towns across America. For those of you in other countries not everyone is a billionaire like Trump. I grew up lower middle Class and here is a true story when I was 8. I had a little friend with blue eyes and blonde hair that was telling me his sad story as we walked home from school. He said his mother didn't have a job and her boyfriends came and went all the time and he didn't have a bicycle or a car. I was 8 and didn't understand diplomacy yet and said, "Oh, I have a bicycle and my father and mother drive our car (which then was still a 41 Buick that belonged to my Dad's brother who died in 1942 in a plane crash (likely). The little boy was enraged that I had my own bedroom and had my own bicycle and that I had both parents and a car. He started hitting me and crying as he hit me in jealousy. I didn't hurt him but just blocked his blows because I felt sorry for him and I was a head taller so he couldn't really hurt me. Just then my Dad drove up in our 41 Buick then in 1956 (just before he bought a brand new 1956 Century Buick that year, and said, "Why didn't you hit that boy back?" I said I didn't want to hurt him because he was having a terrible life and that I had everything, two parents, a car and a bicycle and my own bedroom and even my own .22 rifle. My father realized I was a kind and noble person after that and our relationship deepened after he understood better the son he was raising.
Blessing boxes
make wonderful gifts. They are easy and inexpensive to make and are
filled with invaluable encouragement and hope. It is a decorative box filled with ...
Inspiring America: How Simple ‘Blessing Boxes’ Are Helping Thousands in Need
byJacob RasconandSarah Amer
Inspiring America: 'Blessing Boxes' in Texas Town Helping Those in Need1:37
Big Spring may be just a small town in Texas, but when it comes to the size of its kindness, it's truly boundless.
Big Spring is just one of dozens of towns across
the country where the so-called Blessing Box giving effort has thrived,
gaining national attention at a time of polarizing headlines. The
simple cardboard boxes are filled with donated, free nonperishable foods
and personal hygiene products, and then they're placed in random
locations in towns from Oklahoma to Kansas.
The idea is that anyone walking by who may be
struggling can use the goods to make ends meet and get through the day.
No one exactly knows how the idea was hatched.
Desperate to find a way to help his community,
insurance salesman Eric Escamilla was inspired to build a blessing box
in Box Spring after reading about a similar project in another city.
"It's time to stop having ideas about how to help other people. It's time to actually help other people," Escamilla said. Related: Chef Bruno Continues Mission to Feed Children After Fire Destroys Restaurant
In less than a month, Box Spring has gone from
Escamilla's one blessing box to having more than a dozen. Neighbors,
inspired to join the movement, have set up their own boxes so they, too,
can help bless the lives of those in need.
A 'blessing box' in Big Spring, Texas. NBC News
"That's what I wanted to do!" Escamilla said. "Let's move together as a community. Let's change this city as a whole."
Escamilla encourages people to donate whatever
they can — whether it's a can of beans or a bag of diapers. Anyone can
play a part in paying it forward and alleviating the financial stresses
of those around them.
A mother who frequents the blessing boxes to
help feed her children said: "Just to feed the kids for that day or
something for the next — it really helps a lot. I tell them this is for
us and for anybody and they don't have to feel shame or anything."
The small acts of kindness are creating ripples
not only in Box Spring but across the United States, showing people how
something as simple as a canned good can make a difference in a family's
life that day.
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