Blessing Box Bandits

For the longest time I’ve thought that there should be a special place in Hell for people who drop off dogs, especially pregnant ones, out on a country road for someone else to take care of. Now, I believe I’m going to  add another group to that list. It’s people who rip off blessing boxes. 

Blessing boxes are a common form of ministry for churches all over the country. The concept is simple: share God‘s love by providing emergency hunger relief with non-perishable food. This helps people bridge the food gap in our community.  Picking up a few things can really help needy families in between paychecks. 

The food in our church’s blessing box is stored outdoors in a waterproof cabinet with a sign that says, “take what you need, but be considerate of others.”  Sadly, I have discovered there are folks in our community that obviously can’t read. Because we have people who drive up and clean out the box, leaving very little for anyone else. Last week, I filled up the shelves, left to go to lunch, and when I dropped back by 90 minutes later, found our cabinet nearly empty. And it’s not the first time. Several of our church members have seen people stopping by and using the blessing box as their own personal Wal Mart. 

What’s really troubling is that these people don’t appear to be concerned about where their next meal is coming from. For example, one member of our congregation related a story to me that I’m sorry I heard. She saw a well dressed couple in a nice car pull up to our blessing box - they even had a pet poodle!  The driver got out, opened the cabinet door, and apparently didn’t find anything he wanted.  Based on a hunch, she followed the car a few miles and watched them turn into another church parking lot, where they pulled up to their box, and filled up their trunk.

Sadly, these stories appear to all too common.  Another member of our congregation told me that just a few weeks ago, he filled our box with canned goods, then observed a woman driving an “$85,000 truck” (his words, not mine), almost clean the cabinet out. I’ve checked with two other churches who have reported similar stories. One of them told me they had a food bank, but discontinued it when they discovered these perpetrators were trying to take the food back to the stores for cash.  That appears to be what many of the thieves are doing.  Stories like this make it hard not to feel ripped off.  

Technically, the food is free, because the intent is to give it away.  But make no mistake, this is stealing - not from the church, but from the people who are coming up next, looking for a little help from the Blessing Box. These folks may be denied the assistance they desperately need because a thief came before them and took it all. To me, this is no different than a criminal using a legal loophole to get away with an immoral behavior. They know better. I guess the problem with the honor system is that lots of people aren’t honorable. 

To be fair, we have seen quite a few people stop by the cabinet and leave groceries. God bless them. 

When I related these stories to one of our church members they said,” It’s up to God to handle the people doing this.” That is a valid point - however, we must also consider the fact that God may be telling us to use His resources in a more effective manner.  I know there is a nearby veterans home that could certainly use the groceries we put in our blessing box. It’s something to think about. 

And as for those other people - and you know who you are -  instead of stopping in front of the church, you need think about spending some time inside.