As we enter the season of giving, the theme for our Outside the Box exhibit will change to “Box It Up! Pay it Forward” for the month of November. The Museum is partnering with Boxes of Beauty, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta, to help do our part. We learned about Boxes of Beauty quite recently ourselves, while looking for a partner for our November campaign, somebody in the community doing good, with big ideas. It was actually the name of the group that stood out, and we thought that something called “boxes” might be a good match for Outside the Box. It certainly warranted looking a little closer, and we believe that we found a great cause.
Boxes of Beauty collects and decorates boxes for teenage girls in homeless shelters and group homes. These boxes are filled with essential items like toiletries as well as special items like makeup for the girls to use every day. In the Maker Space at the Museum, children will have the opportunity to decorate one of these boxes, while all visitors will be encouraged to bring travel sized toiletry items for donation. Teaching children about philanthropy instills values such as respect, responsibility, and integrity.
Boxes of Beauty was founded in the late summer of 2011 by Morgan Copeland, an aspiring Pediatric Cardiologist with a heart for volunteering in her community. Ms. Copeland explained that many of the girls in shelters and group homes don’t have a lot of personal effects, and that there’s an opportunity for people to feel better about themselves by simply having small items that many of us take for advantage (soap, hand sanitizer, hair bands, lip gloss, deodorant, toothbrush, etc).
Over the last few months, guests who have visited our Maker’s Space in Outside the Box have had lots of practice in designing and decorating everything from jewelry boxes to rockets to little Frank Lloyd Wright model houses. Starting this weekend, we’re looking forward to using those skills to decorate lots and lots of boxes – about the size of shoe boxes – for Boxes of Beauty. We want to see lots of guests using lots of creativity to make some gorgeous, imaginative, amazing, and awesome gift boxes. Come and join us and help pay it forward!
Don’t forget to check out Boxes of Beauty to learn more about getting involved!
Growing Into the World 