The royal blue boxes, or Blessing Boxes, are designed to build community and offer access to free, nonperishable food outside of local pantry hours. Residents are welcome to donate food or take food as needed. For locations, visit The Legacy Project on Facebook. Courtesy The Legacy Project

A local family is taking action to help their community by offering Blessing Boxes — small, stand-alone boxes where anyone can leave food and take what they need.

Marissa Wallace Tall, founder of Blessing Boxes, has a five-foot tall, royal blue box sitting in her yard in Wylie so anyone can take what food they need or leave what they can. So far, there are four completed boxes: one to stay in her yard, one at Wylie Carpet & Tile and two ready to be placed in public spaces.

The first official box has been in Wallace Tall’s yard for nearly a month, and it has stayed full of food items the entire time. She said there have been opportunities for her to take extra food directly to individuals and food pantries to make sure every donation gets to someone in need.

In a time where neighbors often do not keep up with each other, Wallace Tall sees Blessing Boxes as a way for people to help each other and bring awareness to food insecurity in their communities.

“If you don’t know your neighbor, you also don’t know that they aren’t eating dinner tomorrow,” Wallace Tall said.

Her mother, Christian Care Center Executive Director Audrey Wallace, noticed more people were visiting the food pantry. While brainstorming ideas to help offset the growing need for food, Wallace Tall wondered what it would take to build a food box like a Little Free Library. She said it “snowballed” from there as her cousin Chris Campbell at Red Line Project Solutions offered to build it,  and community members showed positive interest.

Since then, Wallace Tall checks the boxes in her yard every day and organizes them, making sure everything is nonperishable and unopened. Her three-year-old daughter also helps and finds it exciting to see what has been added and taken away.

Blessing Boxes are a part of The Legacy Project, an initiative the Tall family launched around a year ago. However, the project took root seven years ago when Marissa and her husband, Charles, adopted their nieces and nephews.

“We were in our young 20s, living in a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom duplex, and we were parenting multiple children,” she said. “We didn’t have any biological kids at the time, so we really didn’t know what we were doing.”

As many as 13 children have lived with them at one time, and nine are currently with them, including their two biological children. Over the years, people have helped feed and clothe the family, and that care impacted the family’s values. Wallace Tall started The Legacy Project to turn “nothing into something” for her children.

“A lot of our kids have traumatic backgrounds and just a lot of baggage and things that they carry with them, but I wanted them to see, ‘Hey, even if you don’t have a lot, you can still give something, and we can still do something positive with what we have,’” she said.

Although The Legacy Project originally focused on helping the children start small businesses, Wallace Tall said it evolved naturally as God had other plans when needs arose in her own family and community.

Her children now participate in Blessing Boxes by adding items from their own school snack bags and bringing home donations from teachers.

Wallace Tall said over 50 individuals have contacted her about having a Blessing Box outside their house. Before placing any more boxes at residences, she wants people to become familiar with them in public spaces. Each Blessing Box can be recognized by its house shape and royal blue color, and the Tall family’s box now has customized stickers with the name and The Legacy Project’s logo. Wallace Tall would also like to use the sides as ad space for local businesses in the future.

The next box installment will soon take place at 7 Day Fitness in Garland. Once a box is placed, the host will be the primary business or individual checking on the box and its contents.

Students in Wylie and Wylie East High School shop classes also have the chance to be involved by building the next two boxes.

“I really want to put something out there where we’re allowing people to do good things,” Wallace Tall said. “We’re creating a bond within our community, we’re bridging the gap for people, helping our neighbor and truly just being a community.”

Nonperishable food items can be donated to the Blessing Boxes at 302 Valentine Lane in Wylie and Wylie Carpet & Tile. Information on new locations and other ways to donate can be found at The Legacy Project Facebook page.

By Allison LaBrot

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