MCBEE, S.C. (WBTW) – An eight-year-old McBee girl gave the gift of giving this Christmas.
Emalee Moree said all she wanted for Christmas was for Santa to bring her community a blessing box.
Her mother, Rebecca Moree, said she and her family made it happen with the help of the local fire department.
“My father-in-law’s company paid for the materials, my husband built it, I messaged everybody possible around the area because she wanted it near a school because she wanted it for her classmates,” she explained. “The fire department got back with me and said they would be more than happy to help us out and support it that way.”
Emalee said she thought of the idea after she noticed some of her classmates couldn’t afford food on the weekends.
“I saw people at school go up to the office and come back with bags of food and I knew that they went to go get food for the weekend,” she said. “It makes me feel sad so I wanted to put up a whole box for the community.”
Her mother said when she asked Emalee what else she wanted for Christmas, her daughter said she only wanted the blessing box installed.
“I had to kind of push and prod to get her to tell me anything else she wanted under the Christmas tree other than this blessing box,” Rebecca Moree said. “It was really exciting to know that was what she wanted from Santa.”
Emalee said she was shocked and excited when she first saw the blessing box set up and that it meant a lot to her for the fire department to install the box into the wall of the firehouse. She said she named it ‘McBee’s Little Blessing Box’ and will have a sign with the name above the box soon.
“I was very happy and excited,” the eight-year-old said. “You can put food and drinks and stuff that you would need to survive if you were poor or didn’t have a home.”
Rebecca said she is very proud of her daughter and hopes to build more blessing boxes in the future.
“She’s always had a very soft and sweet heart and cares about others,” she said about her daughter.
Rebecca said any items are welcome to be donated to the blessing box, but is specifically looking to get clothing and everyday household items.
“Anything you want to put you can as long as it’s not sharp or glass,” she said. “A real big need is socks, hats, and hand-warmers. Food is something that is needed, but it’s something that’s also thought of a lot,” she continued, “A lot of people don’t think about the fact that if you can’t afford food then you probably can’t afford shampoo, laundry detergent, deodorant, and tooth brushes.”
Emalee and her mother agreed they want the box to last long-term and are already thinking of what they can add to the box next summer.
“I wanted to put toys for kids to play with so that they had something to do during the summer and books and activities for them,” Emalee said.
Rebecca said concerns have been brought to her by community members about people taking advantage of the blessing box.
“We’re going to have faith in our community to do the right thing with it and honestly no matter how it looks, even if it looks as if someone might be taking advantage, I have no idea what their situation is and I’m not going to ask,” Moree said. “If they’re taking it I’m going to assume that there’s a need for it.”
She said that the goal is for the people in the area to come together and help people in their own community who might be struggling.
“I’m hopeful that the community will keep it filled and those that are taking now may be in a place that will fill it later,” she said.
Emalee said she’s very grateful and excited to have started a positive trend in her community and wants to help as many people as possible.
“I’m happy that they know they can rely on it and have something close to them that they can rely on to get materials from,” the fourth grader said. “I just want to make sure that everybody that needs materials to survive will get it.”
Rebecca Moree said she will check in on the box every week to make sure it’s taken care of and stocked.
McBee’s Little Blessing Box is located at the firehouse between the high school and elementary school at 219 S 11th Street in McBee.
The Moree family will host a grand opening donation cookout with food and games for community members on Jan. 13th at 1 p.m.
To learn more about McBee’s Little Blessing Box and how you can donate click here: McBeeLittleBlessings
