Lawton Needs To Stop Advertising When They Fill The Blessing Boxes
If you haven't spotted some of the red boxes scattered around town, these are the Lawton "Blessing Boxes." Some of Lawton's biggest-hearted folks buy necessities and place them in these boxes for the homeless and least fortunate to take as needed... only that's not what is happening some of the time.
It's a catch-22... The people who most often take the time out of their lives to care for those that need it most are always trying to encourage others to do the same. Naturally, when they supply their local blessing box, they'll typically hop on one of the various Lawton social media pages to share what they're doing. Others see it and perhaps they'll join in this worthy mission... Only some see these types of posts and pounce on what they see as "free goods" for themselves.
On more than one occasion I've witnessed people pull up to these boxes in their vehicles, quickly hop out and empty the entire contents into a box or a sack. I've even seen some parents get their kids in on the big score. They aren't looking at what's in there, seeing what they could use, they're taking it all. And in the case that is the downtown Lawton blessing boxes, this abhorrent behavior is getting more and more popular.
I would bet that some of these blessings boxes get hit and cleaned completely out by one needless person within an hour of someone posting about it on one of the Grapevine pages. All of a sudden one person's good deed becomes another person's free supply of deodorant, soap, dog food, etc...
By all means, we should not stop stocking the blessings boxes around town... but maybe we need to stop spreading the news about where and when we're making things available. After all, those who need it most likely aren't skimming social media pages on their smartphones all day.
Just a thought.