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By Gabriella Valencia | on July 06, 2023

Grace Graves in front of her giving box. (GABRIELLA VALENCIA)

Grace Graves is an 8-year-old girl who, inspired by a STEAM project at school, started Grace’s 4 Season Giving Box.

The STEAM program (an acronym for science, technology, engineering, art and math) challenges the students every nine weeks with a new project they can volunteer to participate in. The last nine weeks of the school year, when Grace was in the first grade, the STEAM program challenged students to fill a community need.

Initially, Grace had the idea of creating four boxes, one for every season, filled with different supplies people might need, but she combined them all into one box. Her dad, Ben Graves, helped Grace build the box and install it in their front yard. Grace and her little sister painted the box and added a sign to indicate which season it is.

“It was really exciting to have her want to do something like this,” Ben said.

They stock supplies such as sunscreen, snacks, dog treats, dog poop bags, hand sanitizer and adhesive bandages year-round. During summer and spring, they add supplies such as outdoor toys and more bandages since kids get hurt riding bikes and doing other summer activities, Grace said. In the winter and fall, the box holds more snacks, tissues, gloves and lip balm.

“I thought it would help people if they forget something at their house,” Grace said.

Grace Graves with the supplies in her giving box.

The giving box has been around for one year and has now gone through all four seasons. Grace and her dad refill the box about once a week or when they see supplies running low.

The box has taught her a lot about people, Grace said. She has learned that people can be messy and sometimes leave their trash in the box. Sometimes people take more than they need. They’ve seen groups of kids take all the snacks or people take the whole bag of dog treats.

Grace has learned that it’s a commitment that takes time, money and effort, Ben said. People have also left Grace thank-you cards. Neighbors and members of the community have started to participate and leave snacks to help refill the box. One woman left a note as well as two sums of money, one to help replenish the box and the other as a reward for Grace’s generosity.

“It’s been a lot more rewarding in that way to know she’s learning about filling people’s needs,” Ben said.

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