STARKE, Fla. — Scattered throughout Bradford County, small wooden boxes have quietly been meeting the needs of a community — outcomes that don't always show up in data.
These “blessing boxes” have been popping up throughout the county. Seven boxes have been placed around Bradford so far. From church lawns to downtown, the self-serve boxes provide food items and other necessities for anyone, no questions asked.
The items in them are usually gone within hours.
Each blessing box has the same message, “Give what you can, take what you need.” Adriene Roddenberry is a Bradford mother of two and knows both ends of the message on these boxes well.
“If we’re going to make any type of change in our community, then we have to get rid of that stigma,” Roddenberry said. “We have to keep a positive light on this and let people know, hey, it's okay to donate, and it's okay to go get stuff. And if you have to get more stuff, that's okay too.”
When a box is refilled, it is usually posted to Facebook in order to spread the word.
“I actually fell on some hard times myself,” Roddenberry said. “Luckily, I happened to be on Facebook, and somebody was nice enough to post that they had stocked one of the blessing boxes.”
According to the United States Census Bureau, 18.2% of people in Bradford County lived in poverty in 2024.
For Roddenberry, the boxes offered her a lifeline during some of her toughest moments. Now she pays it back by donating to the same boxes that once helped her.
“It’s a catch-22 feeling if you’ve never been on the receiving end of it,” she said. “I know a lot of people say they get embarrassed to get resources out of the box or stuff like that, but I mean, everybody needs help at some point in time.”
The blessing box in front of the Downtown Grill in Starke is constantly filled with all types of food by the restaurant employees and community members.
Chrissy Johnson is the City Clerk of Starke and owner of the Downtown Grill and says the box was not intentionally placed there.
“But you see people at four o’clock in the morning walking, and they’ll get stuff that they need,” Johnson said. “So, I, at least once a week, we restock it, and we fill it. My staff does it, customers do it, downtown merchants do it.”
Down the street another blessing box was placed there in 2021, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. That one is maintained by church volunteers daily and even has a line item in their budget.
A member of the church, Maryanne O’Neill, knew the box would be a success from the beginning.
“The world is a hard place right now, and most of us have enough,” she said. “We think we may not have enough or we may not have everything we want, but we have enough, and we have enough to help other people.”
The St. Mark’s blessing box was recently dedicated to Peggy Stanwix-Hays after she died in December 2024. Stanwix-Hays was a beloved figure in Starke and a member of the church. Her obituary asked for donations to be sent to the blessing box instead of flowers.
“I still have pictures of Peggy and her grandson,” O’Neill said. He brought his own stool so he could stand there and put the food into the blessing box. That’s a lovely memory I still have, even though she’s not here.”
One of the most recent blessing boxes to be set up in the area was at the Bradford County Jail. Capt. Kevin Mueller from the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office built it from scratch.
“I think at the end of the day, we actually all get into law enforcement to help people,” Mueller said. “So we realize anytime we get an opportunity to help, we want to take that opportunity.”
Along with non-perishable food items, residents can also donate personal hygiene items, blankets, toilet paper, baby essentials, and pet food.
“You just help because we should help eachother as human beings,” Roddenberry said. "That's the only way we’re ever going to be able to change anything in this world, is to pull back a lot on the selfishness.”
