Kenosha Blessing Boxes

My wife and I are both teachers in Kenosha, WI and since day one of school closures, realizing that many of our students will not know where their next meal is coming from, it was placed on our hearts that we had to do something for our students. School is that safe place for so many of our students and they rely on meals throughout the week. So, we started raising money via a Facebook fundraiser page in hopes to raise a few hundred dollars and help out a few of our own students and their families with food during these hard times.

And well, let’s just say God had bigger plans than that. God willing and through the amazing generous donations from so many already, it has become something so much greater!! What started as a small $300 goal to serve a handful of families, has now multiplied to over $20,000, on top of numerous food donations and have now blessed 86 families (400+ individuals) in our community for the past 8 weeks with weekly blessing boxes, which contain meal and snack options for them which are delivered straight to their doorsteps!

Here is what God has done so far with this ministry within our community:

Our first two weeks, we received a great amount of food donations and used the funds to purchase food. With that we created “Blessing Boxes” which contained breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack options for the week. These boxes were packed at our church and delivered straight to 70 families doorsteps in need within our community by an amazing team of volunteers.

Since then, we have changed it to an “adopt” a family method, where 50 “host” volunteer families/individuals have taken on the task to shop for the families we are supporting each week. This has opened up the door to so much more than just delivering non-perishable food. We are now able to not only personalize what and how we deliver to these families. But, it has allowed us to do weekly check-ins, build a connection and community and give these families a sense of hope during this time. And over the past 8 weeks, we have delivered over 500 Blessing Boxes to 80+ families.

Over the past 8 weeks, it has truly been amazing to see God at work and watch our community truly come together in the understanding that it truly does take a village!