Small box, big blessings: Blessing box provides help to those in need

Brie Hanner, right, and her sister, Mandy Miller, pose with Bradfield's Blessing Box which they have placed in front of Hanner's business on Main Street. Items in the box are free for anyone who wants them; others are welcome to add items in the box as well.

Jill Bock/Standard Democrat

NEW MADRID, Mo. - It began as a way to help others. Now for Brie Hanner and her sister, Mandy Miller, it is that and so much more.

In early September Hanner placed a wooden box in front of her Main Street business, Shear Magnolia. The glass window on the box’s door is painted with the words: “Bradfield’s Blessing Box.”

A mini pantry, Bradfield’s Blessing Box provides water, nonperishable food items and other essentials free of charge. It is part of a quiet, no-frills national movement that supplements the efforts of traditional food pantries.

Matt Bradfield is pictured building the blessings box. Bradford, Mandy Miller's fiance, died on Dec. 10, 2020. Now the Blessing Box serves as a way to honor him and help others, Miller said.

Submitted photo

“I just thought it would be perfect right here in New Madrid because we have so many people that get off the river, when they kayak and canoe through here,” Hanner said. “If they need anything, they can stop here and grab it.”

Not just for travelers, Hanner emphasized the Blessing Box is for anyone who sees something inside they need.

The common code for blessing boxes is: Take what you need, leave what you can. Hanner said she hopes others in the community will do just that.

“If people can leave something, they are more than welcome to. If people want to put books in there they can, clothes, just anything they want to put out there that somebody who needs it could use,” she added.

The box is not just a way to share their blessings; it is also a way to honor and remember. The box was made by Miller's late fiance, Matt Bradfield, who died Dec. 10, 2020.

“I love helping people and I thought our community could use one so I begged him to build me one,” said Miller. “But he passed away and we were never able to actually put it out together.”

Hanner said she was unsure about placing the box out, knowing the memories it held for her sister. She said she worried it might get stolen or broken.

Recently they agreed now was the time. Both emphasized it is a way to keep Bradfield’s name and his spirit of helping others alive.

“Things are so expensive nowadays, and it is kind of hard to afford things,” said Miller. “So people that can give and can help the community out a little bit — I think this is a great way to do it.”