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Muncie woman puts ‘blessing box’ on front lawn

MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) – A Muncie woman is helping people who need it most by running a food pantry. Like most pantries, it offers chicken, soup, beans and other food.

The difference is that Jeannette Presley’s pantry is a cabinet on her front lawn.

Presley calls it the Blessing Box-a cabinet full of toiletries and canned food. She’s asking people to take what they need and leave what they can.

“I see a need in the children that live where I live. Sometimes they need food,” Presley said.

Presley lives near 8th Street and Monroe Street. She doesn’t own a big house or an expensive car, but she found a way to give to people in need.

“They can’t go stand in line at food pantries because they’re at work. So they get home and find that there’s just one thing in their refrigerator and they don’t have anything to go with it,” she said.

The Bright family stopped by Thursday after reading about the project on Facebook. They dropped off soup, pork and beans.

“We thought it was a really good thing you do,” Casie Bright said to Presley. “It’s a blessing.”

Dozens of people dropped off food since last week, when Presley started spreading the word. The box filled up so quickly that Presley started storing donations on her porch.

She’s asking other folks in the area to start their own blessing box.

“I would like it to spread around Muncie in each neighborhood,” Presley said. “They could come here and get some of the food that I’ve had donated.”

Presley said she came up with the idea after reading about a church in Georgia with a Blessing Box. If you’re interested in helping out, Presley can be reached at 765-810-2508.

Presley hopes that someday, the folks who take the food can afford to donate. In the meantime, she might need a bigger box.