“It has been a neat opportunity to see so many people come get things they need and to see our church reach out, even when our church doors have been closed for the last few months,” says Jessy Eagy, a member at Marysville Grace Church in Marysville, Ohio (Clancy Cruise, lead pastor). Jessy manages the church’s Blessing Boxes ministry which was started at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.
The Blessing Boxes are two cabinets filled with items people need and may not be able to obtain due to product shortages caused by the pandemic. The basic idea is to “take what you need and leave what you can.”
Items placed in the boxes include non-perishable foods, toilet paper or other paper products, personal hygiene items and baby items (such as diapers, food or wipes). Jessy organizes both boxes, checking to be sure all items are usable (unopened, not expired, not damaged), and keeping the church informed of what the needs are.
“The thing I love most about serving in this ministry is seeing how much the church has been involved in it. To see the amount of items that come in and then go out to our community has been a bigger blessing to me than I thought it would be when I began this venture,” says Jessy. “It’s been neat to hear stories about families being fed and others being able to take needed items to some members of our community who are unable to leave their homes.”
Marysville is a community based heavily in manufacturing, which has been one of the hardest hit industries during the global crisis. Many people are unemployed in the area, including some members at Marysville Grace.
“I would say this pandemic has completely impacted the blessing box ministry. It was the main reason that it had begun in the first place. It was a way that our church could still share Christ with our community,” says Jessy. “So for our church to be able to provide some basic needs, even when a lot of our people were unemployed, was such a blessing to be a part of!”
[Connect:] Send Jessy an encouraging note here.