Charleston resident Katie Dahlheim read about Jessica McClard’s Little Free Pantry in Fayetteville, Ark., more than eight years ago. Now, there are about 500 Blessing Boxes across South Carolina.
Though if you ask her, she’ll tell you that the boxes filled with food and supplies for people in need have little to do with her.
“I’m pretty hands-off right now,” she told the Charleston City Paper. “I’m not out there trying to add more locations or market the idea. It’s really taken off in a healthy enough way that it’s sustaining itself. It’s just perfect.”
It works out for her, she said, because she never intended to be the face of the Lowcountry Blessing Box Project, which she started in 2017 with a handful of small pantries across the Charleston area.
Eight years of growth
Within the first two years of the project’s start, community leaders and groups across the Lowcountry established more than 100 boxes filled with food and other goods for those in need. During the pandemic, Dahlheim counted about 250 boxes in the Lowcountry. Over time, the regional lines blurred, and the project expanded across the state.
“I don’t really know how many boxes we have now,” she admitted. “It’s easier to say ‘close to 500.’ People … take them down. There’s also people who put them up and don’t tell me, so it fluctuates.”
This year, Dahlheim dissolved the nonprofit status of the organization, removing its board of directors and putting it fully in the hands of the communities that steward the individual boxes.
“That’s probably how it should have been all along,” she said.
Whoever owns the land where the box is installed typically cares for the box, with support from neighbors and nearby businesses. And while at first Dahlheim would receive calls and messages about the boxes needing to be refilled, she said her phone doesn’t ring as much anymore.
“I’m not receiving calls for help anymore, and I know the boxes are still there,” she said. “So I know they’re being cared for and filled regularly.”
John Rhoden Jr., executive director for Sea Island Habitat for Humanity, said he was surprised at how much use the two boxes his organization stewards on Johns Island. Rhoden has one box on Maybank Highway and another on Bohicket Road, which is pretty rural, he said.
“That thing gets used every day,” he said. “Volunteers randomly stop by and drop things off and keep it filled. We don’t keep it stocked ourselves. We don’t have a program or a task in place for it.
“It’s not our typical customer, so to speak,” Rhoden added. “When we build houses, they come with a mortgage. Anybody who has food insecurity is not typically a home-owner, so we’re serving a different population, and we’re happy to be a part of that.”
A full-circle teachable opportunity
Dahlheim said she and her family went on a road trip over the Thanksgiving holiday, visiting several states in a straight line across the middle of the county. In Arkansas, she took her kids to McClard’s pantry.
“It really changed my life, reading about her and then starting one in the Lowcountry,” Dahlheim said. “We went and filled it. It felt very full-circle. … It’s a reminder of how the Blessing Boxes are a really great opportunity to teach kids how to give back to their communities and what that looks like. Even as a kid, you have the power to help somebody’s day be better, or help them during the holidays.
She stressed that finding opportunities for kids to volunteer and serve their communities is difficult, even during the holidays. That’s why the Blessing Box Project holds several other family-oriented community events throughout the year.
The organization puts together meal bags for Thanksgiving and Christmas (“They’re basically the same meal,” Dahlheim joked) and hosts free laundry days about once a quarter, which is a way for people to be more hands-on and face-to-face. The goal, she explained, was to hold events that are easy for people to replicate and do for themselves on whatever scale they want.
When asked what’s next for the project, though, Dahlheim said this is probably it, and that’s exciting.
“I think we just maintain this sort of community presence where it stays an opportunity for people to give what they can and a resource for those to take what they need,” she said. “I don’t think there’s necessarily anything beyond this. It’s self-sufficient as it is now.”
What to put in, leave out
For the most part, things haven’t changed in the near-decade since the Blessing Box Project started. The boxes are still small and mostly exposed to the elements, so there’s a long list of items that you probably shouldn’t put inside.
Do: Nonperishable foods like dried pasta, canned goods, packaged foods like chips and crackers.
Do not: Any food items that need to be refrigerated or frozen. Fresh fruits and vegetables that go bad quickly can attract bugs and leave messes inside boxes that can be difficult to clean up.
Do: Socks (Dahlheim recommends Bombas, which donates a pair of socks for every pair purchased). Socks are compact, warm and often neglected at other clothing donation bins.
Do not: Shirts, pants, coats and other bulky clothing items. Clothes often take up large amounts of space, especially in the small Blessing Boxes.
There are also special boxes around the state now, highlighted on the digital map of box locations, with refrigerators. These boxes are perfect for fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese and other products that you typically would leave out of food pantries.
Rhoden recently added a fridge to his Maybank Highway box. He keeps the freezer portion locked, but he said people stock the fridge constantly. “There’s even a guy who brings Chick-Fil-A biscuits all the time,” he said.
There’s also a box specifically for pet food and other pet goods built in partnership with Wag N’ Spash, a North Charleston-based pet swim facility.
“A lot of boxes sort of have their own themes, too,” Dahlheim said. “One on James Island seems to always have baby food. Another tends to have things geared toward older people. They’re all different, and they change over time. It’s been really incredible to watch.”
Interested in building your own Blessing Box for your neighborhood? Check chsblessingbox.org for a quick guide to starting your own small pantry. Just make sure you’re not too close to another established box, and get in touch with Dahlheim to get it added to the map.
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