CWC, Jennings Co. Residents Fill Little Pantries with “Blessings”

Across Jennings County, blessing boxes, or little free pantries, are being installed to provide food to neighbors in need.

Area residents, eager to address the lack of convenient food access in their communities, are partnering with the county Food Security Coalition, the Jennings Community Foundation, and Community Wellness Coordinator Jeff Walker to build and install “Blessing Boxes” around their county. It’s their way of making sure their neighbors don’t go hungry.
“These blessing boxes will meet the immediate need for some families facing the food insecurity and transportation challenges that come in living in such a large county,” Jeff said. “Even more importantly, they’re an excellent way for neighbors to look out for each other and be a support in each other’s lives!”

For many in Jennings, a large, rural county in southeastern Indiana, transportation is one of the largest barriers to food security and food access.  Grocery stores, food pantries, and government offices for WIC and SNAP are all located in North Vernon. For some residents, this can mean a drive of up to 20 minutes to reach the centrally located city.

Jennings County Food Security Coalition members discussed installing little pantries on several occasions, but were concerned about food safety.  But then “a church and group of neighbors independently set up two blessing boxes,” Jeff said. “It became clear that community members wanted to get more involved in addressing food insecurity.”

The coalition hosted an educational session to educate people about blessing box best practices and the Jennings County Community Foundation provided funding for the supplies to build a blessing box. Jeff also got to work, building or completed boxes for nine of the 10 community organizations interested in installing boxes.

Now, there are 14 Blessing Boxes across the county – scattered mostly through more rural areas – at churches, businesses, and in neighborhoods.