Sponsor Testimonial #1
This Box Project Sponsor from California who has been a sponsor for 30+ years asks to remain anonymous.
“Blondine Davis and I have remained in monthly contact over all the years since we were matched up by The Box Project in 1985. Her health has declined recently, and she is now on at-home hospice care. It has been a great privilege to participate in Blondine’s life through the years and to help her family, as sensitively as I could, to meet the challenges they faced. Initially this was through literal monthly boxes. When her children and grandchildren were young, I regularly sent clothes, including warm coats and pajamas every winter. School supplies and toothbrushes/toothpaste and other toiletries frequently filled up corners. Occasionally Blondine would request specific items and I would add them to my list. As time passed and the children and grandchildren grew up, my support shifted to fewer boxes and more monetary support, especially after a fire destroyed her home about fifteen years ago. In order to help her meet the mortgage on the replacement unit, I committed to a small monthly contribution. I continue to send additional items as needed. And all through the years, I have sent books. My active participation in The Box Project will end after Blondine’s death. I have set up a small monthly donation to the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi for The Box Project in honor of Blondine Davis.”
Sponsor Testimonial #2
Sunflower, MS 1968
Out-of-State Sponsor visits Box Project Recipient in Mississippi
Name: Ms. La Flamme
Photos: La Flamme Family 1968 Film
Ms. La Flamme was a Box Project Sponsor in the 1960’s for a large family headed by Annie Catherine Wade of Sunflower, MS. LaFlamme remained an active supporter of the Box Project and even made a trip to visit Annie Catherine and the rest of her recipient’s family in Sunflower in 1968. Her family has since shared film photos that LaFlamme took on her trip that tell a unique Box Project story–one that captures the underlying significance of the creation of the Box Project in the 1960s, a time in which Civil Rights activists and race relations in the South were at the forefront of American culture. Through the Box Project, blacks and whites came together in companionship and helped one another. More so, as displayed in the film, it highlights the living conditions of rural Mississippi and the historic, generational poverty among black families that the Box Project has been working hard to break.
Sponsor Testimonial #3
Carole and Dave Chicoine from California
“We have been long term members of the Box Project. We pay our annual dues and have been members of the Box Project […] for many many years. Our long-term family was Edith Lacy, who was raising two great grandchildren as her most recent endeavor. We had previously helped her with other family members for many years. She passed away last year, but we still continue to send things to the two great grandchildren through one of her adult children living in Tchula, Mississippi.”
Sponsor Testimonial #4
“If the Box Project hadn’t been a part of our lives these past thirty years, we could have missed out on a very important opportunity to look beyond the ‘box’ of poverty and race and find friendship and life lessons in that ‘box’. Thank you, Box Project!” Sue and Jon
Sponsor Testimonial #5
“I have not missed sending a box every month for over 20 years and I have not missed receiving a note or call back every month for 20 years as well. As much as I send, and I am noted for getting nearly everything at great sale prices so I can afford more, I get back so much more. It is the best money I spend each month. We have never met, but she has certainly become my friend.” Barbara
Sponsor Testimonial #6
Anonymous Sponsor from Illinois since 1980
“The first family we were first involved with in 1980 had two daughters a bit younger than my girls so we sent clothing, toys and items for young girls. When their mom was pregnant we sent maternity clothes. We shared letters and photos. I can now see those grown up daughters on Facebook, and I send their mom a Christmas card yearly. After that family, we sponsored several single older women. Now, I am friends with a woman in Greenville who is a year younger than I am and we keep in constant contact. Both she and I do sewing projects, so I send her patterns, fabric and sewing notions. We have visited our friend in Mississippi several times since 2006.”
