The term mite box refers to a box that is used to save coins for charitable purposes. Contemporary mite boxes are usually made of cardboard and given out to church congregations during the Lenten season. The mite boxes are collected by the church and donations are given to the poor. Mite boxes are popular with children because they can fill them with small change and it teaches them the principle of giving to the poor. The Mite box giving promotes the spirit of contributing based on the intent to help others and not on the monetary amount.

The term mite, according to the dictionary, is defined as any of the following:

1. a very small contribution or amount of money, such as a widow's mite.
2. a very small object, creature, or particle.
3. a coin of very small value, especially an obsolete British coin worth half a farthing.

The etymology of the word mite comes through Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 and Middle Dutch

Middle Dutch

Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...

 from the Middle Low German

Middle Low German

Middle Low German is a language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. It served as the international lingua franca of the Hanseatic League...

 mīte, a small Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 coin or tiny animal. In biblical times a mite or lepton

Greek lepton

Lepton pl. Lepta is the name of various fractional units of currency used in the Greek-speaking world from antiquity until today...

 was a small coin of almost no worth.

See also

• Lutheran Women's Missionary League
  Lutheran Women's Missionary League
  The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League is the official women’s auxiliary of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. For over 65 years, the LWML has focused on affirming each woman’s relationship with Christ, encouraging and equipping women to live out their Christian lives in active mission ministries...
  
  
• Lesson of the widow's mite
  Lesson of the widow's mite
  For the 2009 movie, see The Widow's Might.The Lesson of the widow's mite is presented in the Synoptic Gospels , in which Jesus is teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark specifies that two mites are together worth a quadrans, the smallest Roman coin...
  
  
• Coinage of Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea