WILBRAHAM — As part of an Eagle Scout project, Boy Scout Luke Whalen-Sylver of Wilbraham Troop 359 created two blessing boxes outside of Wilbraham United Church and Christ the King-Epiphany Church.

These Blessing Boxes provide 24-hour access to food, toiletries and other non-perishable items.

People who have items to donate can fill and refill the box; people who need these items can take them. Most of the materials to build the boxes were donated from the Home Depot in Wilbraham and East Springfield as well as a local company in Ludlow called C.A. Smith Lumber & Feed.

Whalen-Sylver told Reminder Publishing in order to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, he must earn a certain number of merit badges one of them being Citizenship in the Community.

Whalen-Sylver was tasked with finding an issue in his community and finding a solution, so he chose food insecurity.

Whalen-Sylver explained, “I realized just like many towns across the country Wilbraham has a food insecurity issue. Whether it’s single moms, grandparents or people who are impoverished there is food insecurity everywhere.”

He continued, “I did some research on what I can do to help or try to prevent that if possible. One of the things that came up was a blessing box and I chose to do that for my service project.”

The Blessing Boxes are part of a nationwide mini-pantry movement placing a wooden box on a post containing food, personal care, and paper items accessible to everyone all the time. Usually if the boxes are at a church they are called Blessing Boxes, and if the boxes are in other parts of the community they are called Little Free Pantry. Both are self-service locations where people can pick up and drop off food.

Tim Timpson, a member of the Discipleship Commission at Wilbraham United Church has been hearing positive comments from the congregation and knows they can count on their support to make sure this a reliable source of food for the community.

“Wilbraham United Church has a long-standing commitment in helping reduce local food insecurity with activities such as food drives to support the Community Survival Center and by preparing meals for Loaves and Fishes,” Timpson said. “The Blessing Box is a great fit with the outreach of Wilbraham United Church. We not only get to increase the church’s commitment to families in need, we get to support Luke’s youthful idealism embodied in his Eagle Scout project.”

As Whalen-Sylver did more research on food insecurity, he realized how fortunate he is and how others do not have the same opportunities and resources as he does. Hopefully, Whalen-Sylver said, the churches will want the blessing boxes to remain for many years.

“The most rewarding part is being able to help people in my community get the resources that I have been blessed with,” Whalen-Sylver said. “We want to spread the word and let people know that there’s help out there in Wilbraham.”

To donate, items can be filled directly into the Blessing Boxes. Wilbraham United Church is located on 500 Main St. and Christ the King-Epiphany Church on 758 Main St.