Seven years ago, Joyce Akinpe moved to Australia to start a new life, finding an exciting job in Sydney. After the outbreak (爆发) of COVID-19, she suddenly lost her job.
Seeing that there were many others like herself in trouble from the outbreak, Akinpe and her two roommates, Michele Gomez and Maureen Lee, brainstormed ideas for how to help their local community. They came up with a street pantry (储藏柜). Gomez said the idea was very simple, "Take what you need and leave what you can."
With the help of Gomez's father, they built the Blessing –Box – a a street pantry, with shelves and hanging baskets and two doors made from old furniture.
It sits just at the back of the three girls' home, so they can look after it. They put some information notices into their neighbors' mailboxes, and the Blessing Box was quickly filled with the donations (捐赠)from the community, "It is the community's strong support that keeps the project alive, " Akinpe said.
We now have hundreds of people visiting our box every day. It might only a hours for the box to be full and next hour it might become empty again. We are now h others to carry out similar projects in their own communities, too, "Gomez said.
Lee said things in the box were mostly convenience foods. as well as some necessary life things such as spaghetti and toilet paper. "Few people take everything at once. They think there are other people who need them more. "Lee added.
There were many people rushing there for donations. The three girls needed to sanitize (消毒)all the donations and make sure all food packages were not broken. Gomez said that they had no time for rest, but what they did was well worth.
