Members of the Bowmanstown Area Residents Connected have implemented two new additions in the community to provide for residents in need.

On Sunday afternoon, BARC established a brand-new blessing box at Emmanuel United Church of Christ and a little library on Oak Street.

In April, BARC established their first blessing box at Bowmanstown’s Trinity Lutheran Church. It operates as a food pantry, providing canned goods and other packaged food that does not need to be refrigerated.

Both blessing boxes read “Take what you need” and “Give what you can,” encouraging the community to share food items with those in need. Both boxes were built by an anonymous resident. BARC members built the stand and painted everything.

BARC Vice President Rodney Reeser said the initial blessing box at Trinity church has been useful within the community so far, noting that community members have been keeping it consistently stocked.

This led to the BARC approaching the Emmanuel United Church of Christ and offering to donate a blessing box at their church as well.

Judy Hoffman, the consistory president at Emmanuel church, said, “I feel there’s a lot of people out there that need additional help and sometimes we overlook that if we don’t need that help. So I think it’s important that we make ourselves known and that we’re there to help those that need help. Especially with COVID, there’s a lot of people that lost their jobs or their income isn’t there anymore and I think right now that help is definitely needed.”

She praised BARC for their efforts in improving Bowmanstown.

“I see them often and I think they’re doing some really good work in the community.”

In addition to the blessing box, BARC also established a new little library on Oak Street.

Originally, there was another library there that had been damaged by the weather and needed to be taken down.

A separate little library sits in front of the Bowmanstown borough hall as well.

The new library on Oak Street was brought to fruition through the Lions Club and its member Lyle Augustine. Augustine originally contacted the carpentry department at CCTI, which built and donated the library to BARC as a gift.

When BARC attempted to send the carpentry department a $50 check as a gesture of thanks they did not accept it, insisting that the library was a gift and that they did not want payment for it.

The library operates similarly to the blessing boxes. It contains a variety of different books for all ages, and those interested can either take a book if they need one or leave a book of their own. BARC only asks that people do not put books in the library if it is currently full to prevent overfilling it.

Reeser said the library is meant to encourage reading in an affordable way within the community.

“It’s just a nice little gesture toward anyone in the community who likes to read. You don’t have to go purchase a book. If you want to read, you can usually find something here.”

BARC President Kara Scott also said residents do not have to drive out of town to be able to read a book.

“We don’t have a library, and this makes the reading convenient so that they don’t have to drive to Palmerton or Lehighton.”

BARC members encouraged community members to check out and use the new additions.

The next major BARC event will be their eighth annual dog show on Oct. 2 where participants can enter their dogs into a variety of fun categories such as best costume, best tail-wagging and best “puppy eyes.”

Emmanuel church will also be hosting their Fall Bazaar on Oct. 2 as well.

For more information on the BARC and their upcoming events, visit www.facebook.com/groups/GOBARC.