Student creates website to help community find, share blessing boxes
By Alexis Barrett
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PADUCAH, Kentucky (WPSD) — While the government shutdown may have ended, food insecurity remains a pressing need for many. However, McCracken County High School junior Ava Adame hopes to make it easier for both those who want to help and those in need to find blessing boxes.
Adame and her mother had been trying to donate to a box, only to find that the one they located was no longer in use.
“So I was trying to find another blessing box nearby, and I noticed it was really hard to find that,” Adame said. “So I thought it would be best to make a website where it’d be more accessible to, like, see blessing boxes nearby.”
The site features both a map and a list of boxes — almost 150 boxes are logged, and Adame says it is still being updated. The list includes McCracken, Marshall, Calloway, Ballard, Graves, Livingston, Fulton, and Carlisle Counties.
“Initially, I only was going to plan to do McCracken County, but as I was doing it more, it spread more to other counties,” Adame said. “I ended up doing most of West Kentucky, and I want to eventually do more.”
While most of the boxes are for food, there are also boxes for books, menstrual products, and pet food.
“I think our community really does enjoy donating and helping each other out, but they just don’t have the tools to do it easier,” Adame said. “So I feel like with the website, it makes it more accessible to others to donate and to borrow from the boxes.”
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