A new Little Library now stands beside the Blessing Box outside 3394 Chapel Lane in Ramona, giving neighbors a place to trade books for free right alongside the shelf-stable food, blankets and socks that have been available there for almost a year. Ramona United Methodist Church and Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, which share the property, held a dedication ceremony for the new book box last Tuesday.
The addition builds on a mutual-aid effort already well known in the neighborhood. As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Blessing Box lets community members take or leave food and it has been operating for almost a year, according to Karen Johnson, who has lived in Ramona for nearly 50 years. Johnson said the combination now offers something for everyone: “food for the soul and food for the stomach.” She added that people can get both food and books at the same spot.
The Blessing Box was designed by Steven Prather and built by Dave Hamblin, Laura Prather, Darren Lynch and Mike Gehring, with funding coming from grants awarded by the two congregations. The Little Library itself was built by Hamblin and sponsored by the Friendship Circle, which paid for its materials, completing the project in spring 2026.
What's Inside the Boxes
The Blessing Box mostly holds shelf-stable food and water, but it also stocks blankets and socks and accepts other donated items. Laura Prather said literally anything and everything can be donated. During office hours, the box even offers fresh eggs kept in a refrigerator, and it includes notecards and pens so neighbors can leave messages or request specific items. Terry Carlson has donated cans of tuna, green beans, refried beans and Spam, per the same account from the Union-Tribune.
The Little Library, meanwhile, leans toward younger readers. It offers mostly children's fiction, including titles like “Leo Loves Baby Time” and “A Quilt Full of Memories,” along with educational books such as “The World Beneath Your Feet” and “Animals and Their Hiding Places.” A recent selection even included books paired with CDs for listening to stories. Ramona United Methodist Church runs a preschool with access to the Little Library, giving young children in the program a direct line to the shelf.
Always Open, No Questions Asked
Both the Little Library and the Blessing Box are accessible 24 hours a day, letting anyone in the community take a book or leave one, and take or leave food, on their own schedule. That round-the-clock, low-barrier model traces back to the grassroots Little Free Pantry and Blessing Box movement, which launched in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in May 2016 under the motto “Take what you need, leave what you can,” according to Fresh Food Network. The book-sharing side of the project fits into an even larger international network: the Little Free Library nonprofit passed 200,000 registered book-sharing boxes across 128 countries in March 2025, having facilitated the exchange of more than 400 million books since it was founded in 2009, per Little Free Library.
Donors looking to support the Ramona effort can contribute through tinyurl.com/ramona-blessing, and the church office can be reached at 760-789-7106 for more information.
Why Two Congregations Share One Address
Ramona United Methodist Church and Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church share facility space, music ministry and pastoral leadership under Rev. Kristie Grimaud, who serves both congregations while each keeps its own distinct denominational identity, according to the Pacifica Synod of the ELCA. Spirit of Joy Lutheran traces its roots in Ramona back to November 6, 1994, when the congregation first met in a private residence and later in a local shoe store in Old Town before eventually relocating to share the Chapel Lane property, per church history posted by Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church. The two churches are also part of a broader ecumenical partnership in Ramona that includes First Congregational Church and St. Mary's in the Valley Episcopal Church, which team up on joint youth programs and community service days, according to First Congregational Church of Ramona.
A Small Fix for a Persistent Regional Problem
The need behind projects like the Chapel Lane Blessing Box reflects a stubborn regional trend. An estimated 25% of San Diego County residents, roughly 850,000 people including 219,000 children, face nutrition insecurity, marking two consecutive years of elevated hunger levels across the region, according to the San Diego Hunger Coalition. Separately, about 32% of county children, more than 220,000 youth, experience nutrition insecurity, a gap that has prompted programs like the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program to send weekend food packages home with 3,700 students weekly, per Blue Shield of California.
That hardship persists even in communities with comparatively high household incomes. Ramona is an unincorporated foothill community with an estimated 2026 population of 23,414, a median household income of $107,427 and an overall poverty rate of 6.19%, according to World Population Review. Micro-pantries like the one on Chapel Lane operate on a far smaller scale than the county's largest food relief networks; the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank serves roughly 400,000 residents monthly through partnerships with 450 local nonprofits, distributing 52 million pounds of food during its 2024-2025 fiscal year, per the San Diego Food Bank.
The Little Library also sits at a modest scale compared with Ramona's municipal library system. The San Diego County Library Ramona Branch, a 21,000-square-foot facility at 1275 Main Street, opened in 2011 and anchors public library service in the community, according to the San Diego County News Center. The Chapel Lane box offers no late fees, no library card and no hours of operation to work around, just a shelf where a book can be swapped any time, day or night.
