Always good to start the day with good news!
After taking on an assignment in a human services class at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, N.Y., Roman Espinoza was inspired to help his own community. As his teacher told each student to research and report on an epidemic in this country, Roman picked nutrition.
As he was researching, Roman was shocked to find that his former school had food pantry. “Just being naive, I thought that if you had money to go to school, you had money to eat. I came to realize very quickly, that wasn’t true,” Roman told InsideEdition.com. “I realized there are adults who have to choose to drive to school or get something to eat.”
Though he donated to that food pantry, Roman took his charity to another level, building a small pantry on his own front lawn! Using supplies from Home Depot, he built the box and stocked it himself at first. Then neighbors started seeing what he was doing, and wanted to donate as well!
The box has been on Roman’s lawn and has a variety of goods like beans, toothpaste and toilet paper. On the glass front of the box, there’s a sign: “Take what you need, leave what you can. Above all else be blessed.” And Roman’s community has definitely been using it! “We’ve had to replenish it at least every other day. No one has come by and taken advantage. They just take what they need,” he said.
Roman’s act of kindness continue to spread, with him helping building a few more of these “blessing boxes” for other neighbors! “Nobody should ever go hungry,” he stated. “I think it’s important to give back to the community. People just need to know where to go sometimes until things get better.”
Charity truly does start at home! Little things like this can mean so much to other people who may be struggling behind closed doors. Kudos to Roman for this great idea!
Imperfectly B 