Outside her home at 124 Cedar St. in Elizabethtown, Emily Henderson is building a community. For two years, she has operated The Puzzle Box of Elizabethtown, encouraging people to "take one, leave one, or do a bit of both."
"My mother-in-law moved in with us, and she started buying and doing puzzles, but when she was done with them, I had to figure out what to do with all of them," Emily recalled. "I was donating them to the senior center in Elizabethtown, but then I got this idea to share them with my neighbors."
Her husband, Tom, built the box for the puzzles, and Emily started promoting the box on Facebook. The project took off. "It was very popular, and soon people wanted books, too, so he built a top part of the box," Emily said.
She noted that all of this was pre-pandemic, but that her project really blossomed during 2020. "My neighbors tell me that it's visited frequently," Emily noted, adding that her Facebook page had more than 500 members at one time.
Along with books and puzzles, the Hendersons began adding even more to the box, including board games, eggs and baked goods. "We have a small farm in Manheim, and we had a few baby chicks, and soon I had more eggs than I knew what to do with," Emily said. "Then, last summer, one day my husband asked me to make whoopie pies and I did, but with just three of us living here, we didn't need 30 whoopie pies, so I put them out there as well." Emily said she's now baking two or three times a week and adding treats to the box. Her daughter, Reya, began selling homemade jewelry out of the box as well. While the puzzles and books are free, there is a small fee for the eggs, baked goods and jewelry.
Emily said the experience of creating a community box has been overwhelmingly positive. "We keep growing with what we're offering," she stated. "It's so neat to see the response of excitement and appreciation for the box." She works in early childhood education, and she was excited to recently add two bins to the box - one for children's books and one for books for teens.
"Reading is something I encourage for all children, so I love to see that happening," she said. "Take your child for a walk in some fresh air, pick up a book or a puzzle and then bring it home to enjoy together."
For more information on Emily's project, search for "The Puzzle Box of Elizabethtown" on Facebook.
Leave a Review