By Katelyn Essink
If you ever come into the town of Clarksville and drive by either the Community United Methodist Church or the Retirement Village, you will happen to see a birdhouse -like figure filled with food and paper products. They were inspired by Kerry Essink, the United Methodist Church youth group leader and made by Mike Clark, a church board member.
“I wanted to find a mission that we could achieve that would benefit the community, so I searched online to find a mission that the youth could do and read articles about other people using Blessing Boxes,” said Essink.
The items that are in the Blessing Boxes are donated by the youth group, which are non-perishable groceries, puzzle books, clothes, personal hygiene items, and school supplies.
“We are filling them approximately twice per month, and when we first started, it was not that often,” said Essink.
So far, this whole project has been going on for one and a half years, and they still are being used to this day. Essink’s goal in starting this mission was to include the youth in something meaningful for Clarksville.
“I believe everyone is put on this earth for a reason and my reason is helping people, and I wanted to teach my youth group members a way to help the community,” Essink stated.
Essink commented, “I am so thankful for the support of my church community. They had to approve my idea before I could move forward, and they wanted to know how many we could build and place around the community.”
I look forward to watching this project grow and develop in the upcoming years.
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