TOPEKA, Kan. – Forty blessing boxes crisscross Topeka, and supporters are working to “stock the box” by filling up each.
The food drive will be Friday and Saturday in hopes of filling every blessing box with non-perishable food items.
People can bring their items to 1025 S.W. Fillmore St. Drop them off on the porch. Blessing boxes can be found scattered around the city, usually near streets or sidewalks, and are boxes where people can donate items.
Jeanine Russell, CEO and Queen Bee of nonprofit Bee the Blessing, said she wants everyone to drop off the food in a centralized location so people can see how much food is required to fill every blessing box in Topeka. She said her blessing box needs to be refilled three times a day.
“We knew way early on that we were in an area where people had a need for food,” Russell said.
Russell said the Dillons grocery store on S.W. Huntoon and Washburn created a food desert when it closed several years ago. She said the benefit of blessing boxes is that the food is in people’s neighborhoods and is easy to access.
Coffee, creamer, spices, personal care items, boxed milk, peanut butter crackers, ramen, pancake mix and syrup are some less common items Bee the Blessing is encouraging people to bring.
People unable to bring food can donate to Bee the Blessing by going to its Facebook page to electronically donate, so others can do the shopping for them.
Russell said a group of people in town are dedicated to filling the boxes, but she hopes the food drive can bring more attention to them.
“Tragically, many of those boxes sit empty for days in a row,” she said. “Our goal is to see to it that somehow, someway that food is in every single box every single day.”
