Blessing Boxes

This past weekend, our community put on gloves and masks and gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mitzvah Day — WHC’s annual commitment to tikkun olam.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most projects for Mitzvah Day this year were designed to be done at home and dropped off at Temple or JBSC on Sunday, April 18.

One project, however, needed a bit more space. So, we invited a handful of volunteers to take over the parking lot at Temple to build  Blessing Boxes.

Similar in design to the Little Free Libraries you may see around neighborhoods in our area, these boxes will be placed in locations that are considered food deserts.  Once completed and installed, these Blessing Boxes will be stocked with nonperishable food items and will be available and “open” 24 hours/day.  Anyone who might be hungry can take what they need.  Similarly, anyone who would like to make a donation can add items to the box at any time.

Our team of volunteers got a great start on Mitzvah Day and will work to complete four Blessing Boxes in the coming weeks.  One of the boxes is earmarked specifically for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church near Capitol Hill in Southeast DC.  As you may recall, back in March, a noose was found hanging from a tree on St. Marks’ property. Earlier this month, just before Easter, WHC gifted one of our peace benches to St. Marks to sit under the tree where this hateful symbol appeared.  The blessing box will be placed nearby to complete the transformation of this desecrated space into a safe place filled with peace, hope, and love.

WHC would like to thank Stan Smith for donating the materials used for this project, Christine Chan and Matt Reiskin for their architectural design expertise, and Frank Zappala, Tony and Cole Fleming, and Matt and Noah Reiskin, who dedicated the time to build the idea of these Blessing Boxes into a reality.

Additional Links:

Mitzvah Day homepage

Mitzvah Day 2021 Photo Album

WHC’s TOV Fund

Mitzvah Day is generously supported by the WHC TOV Fund.