Jerry Long Family YMCA dedicates blessing box
Published 12:10 am Thursday, February 23, 2023
Amber Feuerberg stands in front of the finished Blessings Box at the Jerry Long Family YMCA
Submitted photo Scout Troop 964 assembles the Blessings Box for the Jerry Long Family YMCA
Submitted photo Amber Feuerberg and members of her Scout Troup paint the Blessings Box that is now displayed at the Jerry Long Family YMCA
Marc Pruitt photo The Jerry Long Family YMCA installs community Blessings Box to fight food insecurity and housing instability. Community members are encouraged to donate items or take items as needed.
Marc Pruitt photo Miranda Wyatt, the Executive Director of the Jerry Long YMCA, makes some remarks during the dedication ceremony.
Marc Pruitt photo Two people place items in the Jerry Long YMCA Blessings Box
Marc Pruitt photo left to right: Tammy Parks of the Lewisville-Clemmons Chamber of Commerce, Dexter Tinnin, the chair of the Jerry Long YMCA's Christian Emphasis Committee, Adam Cardwell, the Associate Executive Director of the Jerry Long YMCA, Miranda Wyatt, the Executive Director of the Jerry Long YMCA and Clemmons Mayor Mike Rogers helped cut the ribbon to dedicate the Blessings Box at the Jerry Long YMCA on Feb. 18.
The Jerry Long Family YMCA has installed a blessing box that will contain nonperishable foods and basic toiletries for those battling food insecurity and/or housing instability to take from at any time. All items in the box are anonymously donated by community members.
About 50 people stopped by the YMCA on Saturday, Feb. 18, to participate in the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The need for a donation box was determined by the Jerry Long Y’s Christian Emphasis Committee and was created by Amber Feuerberg from the all-girls BSA Scouts Troop 964.
“The Blessings Box provides us with an excellent opportunity to fulfill our mission in new and impactful ways,” said Miranda Wyatt, the executive director of the Jerry Long Family YMCA. “It is sustained by those desiring to make a difference and is for anyone in our community who needs it. We are grateful to continue being an instrument that helps fill a gap in people’s lives.”
Dexter Tinnin, the chair of the Christian Emphasis Committee at the Jerry Long YMCA, said the project had been in the works for about eight months.
“We wanted to come up with some ideas and we had a former member mention that they knew a troop member, Amber Feuerberg, who needed to do a service project to get her Eagle Scout Award,” Tinnin said. “Through that she decided that she wanted to do a blessings box and it kind of took off from there. She did everything. She raised her own money and got her own supplies and that was the origin of it.”
Individuals can place items for donation in the Blessings Box or in the lobby’s overflow box during normal business hours if it is full. Donators are to avoid donating opened, expired or home baked goods and are to follow CDC guidelines for handwashing and handling of all items.
