Love Your Neighbor
Help Build Charlotte’s Wall of Compassion with Blessing Boxes
Hearts were everywhere this time of year, the month of love. What if heartfelt acts of kindness and compassion all across Charlotte were captured in one place?
Soon more than 150,000 will be, in a set of public art walls to go up across the city as part of About Face Charlotte’s Blessing Box campaign. City of Charlotte employees are joining in efforts to make this public display of affection a reality.
The idea came after the Keith Lamont Scott officer involved shooting in September. Dana Endsley, local artist and filmmaker, was traveling in Austin, Texas during the protests and remembers conversations with strangers who expressed their sympathy for her as a Charlotte resident.
“I remember the news images and as people told me they were sorry to hear I was from Charlotte, it hit me really hard,” said Endsley, “During those events, Charlotte was viewed as a city that lacked compassion, a city that lacked kindness. With all of the divisive discussion and our ongoing issues with poverty, I kept thinking about how to bring people together.”
Nearly 150,000 people in Charlotte live in poverty, according to the 2014 US Census Community Survey. About Face Charlotte seeks to give those people voices and to raise awareness of poverty and challenges around economic opportunity in our city.
Dana’s idea for a wall built of blessing boxes came in the middle of an October night. It’s simple — small boxes, each filled with 100 strips of colored paper. For each of the 100 strips, an anonymous handwritten account of a single act of kindness extended to someone else.
“The campaign is so encouraging and inspiring, we have seen it take off like wild fire,” said Endsley. “We used the word Blessing not in a religious connotation but with the definition of: a beneficial thing for which one is grateful, something that brings well-being. People have shared with us they feel it gives them a way to do something and make an impact.”
The project started with 1500 boxes — for a total of 150,000 acts of kindness, 1 for every person living in poverty in Charlotte. Another 1000 boxes are already in the works. Public schools, private schools, faith communities, businesses, fitness studios and community centers are among the list of places where you might see the boxes.
City government rounds out the list. Nicole Storey, Neighborhood and Community Partnerships Manager, said the partnership is perfect given the city’s commitment to economic opportunity.
“City of Charlotte employees are public servants, showing love for our neighbors and all city residents is our work and our passion,” said Storey. “The AboutFaceClt.org blessing box initiative is a fantastic opportunity to explore the stories of our residents and to document our acts of kindness by spreading joy in an intentional way. We look forward to doing our part to ensure that Charlotte leads the way as a community of compassion.”
Once collected and assembled, the boxes will lock together, forming three art walls of compassion located in public spaces in different parts of our city. Those who participate will have the opportunity to locate their boxes after the installation. The strips of paper will also be used to create community works of art. A team of six artists will lead the charge.
Blessing boxes unite people of all ages in Charlotte — 60 eighth graders from Bruns Academy and Providence Day recently came together and assembled boxes — working side by side for community service hours. A woman running work errands stopped to give money to a homeless woman and instead treated her to lunch. A mother and her two girls sat down to plan their acts of kindness each evening, one of which included baking cookies for local police officers.
What story of compassion or kindness will you help us share? Learn more about the Blessing Boxes, ways to love your neighbor and how you can help, visit http://aboutfaceclt.org/blessing-box-campaign. Be on the lookout for boxes at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center (CMGC) and Old City Hall.
