Elgin, SC (WLTX) -- Here's how one Midlands community is spreading kindness.
The town of Elgin is about 25 miles northeast of Columbia in Kershaw County right and right in town near the Elgin Town hall on Main Street is where the town's newest little food pantry sits proudly.
It's called the "Kindness Box".
"I had already heard about similar boxes, they're called "blessing boxes" in other communities. I said, 'You know, it would be great if we could have something like that here'," Melissa Emmons, Mayor of Elgin remembers.
Emmons was approached by Donna Haltiwanger, the President of Woodmen Life's Chapter 1076. Haltiwanger saw a need in Elgin, and came up with the idea of the Kindness Box.
Council members overwhelmingly agreed to the idea of posting the box outside Elgin Town Hall, a well-lit, safe spot within the community.
Hours after Mayor Melissa Emmons posted a picture of the box waiting to be filled, it just took a few hours before donations began to appear.
"The Kindness Box is where somebody can go to get food and nobody has to know," said Haltiwanger. "If they need it, they can just come and get it. If they don't need it, they can leave it for somebody that may."
Haltiwanger says Chapter 1076 volunteered at the food bank in Elgin, and saw a great need after witnessing residents waiting in a line outside the door.
Elgin's food bank is open only one day a week.
"The outskirts of the Elgin community, we have a great deal of need. We have multiple outlets for them, but they're limited," said Emmons.
The Kindness Box fills the void. It's open 24/7.
"We came back a day or two after we put it into the ground to put some more food inside of it and it was already full," said Michael Haltiwanger, Vice President of Chapter 1076 in WoodmenLife. He helped make the Kindness Box along with his neighbor, Dub Rountree.
Any non-perishables for adults, children, and pets are welcome.
"Number one, people are actually coming and being generous making donations. Number two, people are actually using it," said Emmons. "We are a small community with a big heart."
The goal of the Kindness Box is to never let residents spend another day hungry. Haltiwanger says we could soon see more of these boxes throughout the community.
To learn more about WoodmenLife, visit https://www.woodmenlife.org/. If you're a business in Elgin interested in housing the next Kindness Box, you can also communicate with Chapter 1076 on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WoodmenLifeSCChapter1076/).
"I was always taught the best way to show God's love is to love one another," said Emmons. "The best way to love someone is to help them in their time of need, and this box, the Kindness Box, it's just a wonderful tool we have. It gives us an opportunity to show that love to those who may need that from time to time. They need to be reminded that there still are good people in this world."