Outside the front door of Spirit of Grace Church sits a “Blessing Box” stocked with non-perishable food and paper products. “It is there for anyone to help themselves at anytime,” said Andrew Seng, the Walled Lake Northern High School senior responsible for getting it built and installed as part of his requirements to earn the rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scout Troop 308.

This project is aimed at helping people in the community who are challenged to have enough food or general household goods. The “Blessing Box” is there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the food and other items are available to anyone in need with no application required. Andrew describes the concept as “Leave what you can; take what you need.”

Congregation members, friends and the community at large are invited to donate food and other household items in a bin inside the church. Then, families sign up to monitor and re-stock the box, as needed. Anyone in the community who would like to donate to the box is welcome to open the doors of the box and put their donations inside—including non-perishable food, paper products, bottled water, and cleaning supplies.

The Spirit of Grace congregation has a focus on helping those in need in the community. A study done last summer identified food insecurity as a continuing need for the church to address. “With this wonderful project, we hope to extend the opportunity to help alleviate hunger to anyone in the community who would like to help” said Pastor Mary Duerksen. “We’re very proud of Andrew, and we’re glad to support this very worthwhile ministry.”

The “Blessing Box” project was Andrew’s last requirement for the rank of Eagle Scout. With it, he demonstrated leadership by planning, working with church leaders, organizing a team with other scouts, and then building and installing it. Andrew will be a 4^th generation Eagle Scout in his family.