Feb. 28, 2022
BY JOHN BAILEY
How would you feel if your home was broken into and robbed?
Would you feel anger, disappointment, fear?
Back in December, this was the situation the Catawba County United Way (CCUW) faced. Around midnight on a Saturday, a window at the CCUW building was shattered and alarms were activated as someone entered and stole several items.
Instead of being overwhelmed by negative emotions, the United Way decided to respond with compassion. It ended up that what was taken during the break-in were just some canned sodas and a backpack.
“This told us a lot about the desperation behind that crime,” CCUW Executive Director Mark Bumgarner said. “They left valuable items, TVs, laptops, monitors and took what most of us take for granted.”
So, in response to the robbery, the CCUW had a blessings box built.
For many in our community, these basic needs have grown since the start of the pandemic.
In the last year in Catawba County, there were 1,140 calls for help with housing made to the United Way of North Carolina help line, 2-1-1. Overall, in the state, there were more than 5,000 calls for help to find food resources and more than 2,400 calls for help about buying clothes and other essential household items, according to nc.211counts.org/.
It was CCUW Board President Amy Guyer from RHF/Century, who had the idea of a blessings box, seeing it as a good response and fit with the United Way’s mission of increasing the organized capacity of people to help others.
Blessings boxes have become a popular way for local organizations to provide basic resources to those in need. They are generally a simple box or container filled with non-perishable food and other seasonal items like gloves or blankets and hygiene products.
“We had a great connection with May’s Chapel United Methodist (in Maiden) and reached out to them, since they had built one for themselves,” Bumgarner said. “We are so thankful for their help.”
After building it for the CCUW, the church delivered and installed the blessings box on Feb. 26. So now, instead of just being focused on securing its building, the Catawba County United Way can also provide immediate, basic resources to those who need it the most.
“They don’t have to resort to desperate measures to have things we all take for granted like food, something to drink, a way to stay warm, hygiene products,” Bumgarner said.
May’s Chapel United Methodist had built their own blessings box in November 2019, right before the pandemic.
“We didn’t have any idea how big a need it was going to meet. Then after COVID hit there was a huge need,” the Church’s Senior Paster Jason Guyer said. “It was a way for us to give back and a way for people to help others behind the scenes, by supporting the blessings box.”
Currently, the church has around 50 people take items from their box every two weeks.
“What’s really interesting is to see people sort through the items. They don’t take what they don’t need. It’s very encouraging,” Guyer said.
How to help
At the CCUW, Bumgarner hopes other organizations and businesses will get behind the United Way’s blessings box and help sponsor it on a month-to-month basis to help keep it stocked.
“We’re proud we can lead our community as an example of how we respond with compassion,” Bumgarner said.
If your company or agency would like to help the Catawba County United Way keep the blessings box stocked call 828-327-6851 or email mbumgarner@ccunitedway.com.