United Way of Central Kansas brought a new Community Impact Project to the area in 2017 with Boxes of Love. Working with ElderCare, Meals on Wheels, and Golden Belt Home Health & Hospice, 150 Valentine’s Day boxes were delivered to homebound seniors in Barton County on Wednesday. 

With the help of Volunteers in Action/RSVP, athletes from Barton Community College put together these boxes full of donations from the community. Each box was then topped off with homemade valentines made by children at the Great Bend Children’s Learning Center, Caring Hands Daycare, and Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland. Additional valentines were made by children in the community who wanted to help.

United Way recognized that there are numerous youth projects in the area, but little was being done for the seniors, said Becca Maxwell, UWCK president said. Members decided this would be a great way to show these members of our community that we care and that they are important to our community.

Boxes of Love started out as just covering Great Bend, but due to the huge success of the program, boxes were also delivered in Ellinwood and Hoisington the first year of the program. Due to the huge success that first year, this program was expanded into Pawnee County in 2018.

“We owe a huge thank you to all the community members who donated, the businesses that were drop-off locations, and churches that embraced this project and made generous donations to get these boxes in the hands of so many in our community,” Maxwell said.