Angela Seri Krukauskas was looking for a way to express her gratitude for what she has in life.
What she found was generosity and even more to be grateful for.
The Egg Harbor City woman built a food pantry in her front yard this month, in hopes that no one locally would go hungry this Christmas.
When her husband, Tom Krukauskas, suffered some setbacks after surgery in October, she said she had a lot of time to think about all her blessings. She also thought about her significant couponing skills.
“Do you think you can build this?” she asked her husband, after he got out of the hospital.
“I think you can build it,” he replied.
So, under his direction, she and her son Zachary put it together, and set it in the yard of their home at 350 Boston Ave.
“Take a Blessing if you need one. Leave a Blessing if you can,” it reads.
It also invites people to text Krukauskas at 609-287-2450.
She put a post out on Facebook, and the replies began.
“People started knocking on the door and calling,” she said.
Not only did they leave food, some even brought toys.
There were gift cards to the supermarket and McDonald’s, candy, diapers, feminine products.
“Anything you can think of,” she said.
There was even cash to buy more toys, with her other son, Alex, helping shop.
It only started Tuesday, she pointed out.
By Sunday, “41 children were able to have Christmas because of these incredible donations and there are lots of full bellies.”
Krukauskas said she grew up poor and thinks no child should wake up Christmas without as least something to have.
Now, dozens will.
“I am grateful and overjoyed,” she said. “There are no words to say it. Other than the birth of my children, I’ve never felt joy like this.”
Meanwhile, her husband, a Desert Storm Navy veteran, continues to heal.
And the thanks to Krukauskas for what she is doing continues to grow.
But she doesn’t take the credit.
“All I did was build a box,” she said. “My friends, my neighbors, everybody has found Christmas spirit. They did all this.”
