PETERSBURG, Va. — Once homeless and relying on food pantries to survive, Traci Mckee said with her family slowly getting better, she wants to help others the same way the community helped her.
Just one week ago the mother of four started the Mckee Family Free Food Pantry or “Blessing Box,” a mini food pantry that sits just outside her home.
“When the pandemic hit my husband’s financials dropped. That left us struggling financially, so I was like oh my gosh we’re not going to have enough food and everything else,” said McKee. “I saw a blessing box and was like ‘Oh well that helped.’ It really saved me. So now that I’m getting on my feet, I’m like well I’m going to start giving back to the community what they gave me.”
The free food box is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, weather permitting, and houses food that anyone can come by and take.
“I felt like there’s a lot of people that are in this area that I see walking or riding a bike, or taking the bus and I’m like they don’t have transportation,” said McKee. “They can just walk over and get it on the way passing.”