Groceries for Families: Week 28 - Day 2
September 30th, 2020
Day 2 of this V2 went as well as the first. The new logistics are working…we just have to have more experience to make it easier and faster. Lots of shoppers came from 10 different groups. The morning was full of happy (masked) faces dropping off bags. The joy and fun are quite obvious to the crew; it’s wonderful to see! Families came early today. By noon there were already 40 people waiting, many of them talking around the grass area. It is clear there is a community that has been created here, which they are enjoying. By 1:00pm when we opened, the line was at least 90 deep. Wow! Overall, it was a great day.
BelPres Delivery
Newport Covenant Delivery
Groceries today were provided by Calvary Chapel Eastside, Victory Court, Newport Covenant, St. Louise, Crossroads Bible, Bellevue Presbyterian, 24- Seven and Bellevue Christian Reformed churches, as well as the Rotary Club of Bellevue, the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 174 orders came in and all went out to families today, including 6 by delivery. Thank you to all who helped today!
Lots of pantry items came in today, too. Thank you to everyone who gives to these extra items. If you want to be on the weekly distribution list for pantry items, just reply back. The inventory for baby wipes is fine for tomorrow now. Thank you for the quick response this week to help there.
Exit Lane Market.
We picked up fresh items at Cash & Carry early this morning. Costco delivered more about 8:30am. This part of the new process is working very well.
The market tables were full today. For the first time since August, we put out mainly non-perishable items. They had been accumulating but the supply of fresh items has been so strong, there just hasn’t been space for the non-perishables. Today was the day. Lots of canned goods, boxed goods, pasta, soup, coffee, socks and more filled the tables all afternoon. Thank you to everyone who gives these extra items. Some fresh items were brought by volunteers from the QFC Crossroads, too. Thank you!
Filling Boxes
Ed took the box truck to Farmer Frog in Woodinville at 9:30am to get food boxes today. It was so congested there, he didn’t return until 12:45pm.
Not fun. The crew very quickly unloaded 150 food boxes. Fortunately, we didn’t pick up milk today because an extra pallet of milk (200 gallons) was brought yesterday accidently (In fact, we had so much extra milk there was insufficient refrigeration here.
We took 84 gallons to Bellevue Christian Reformed Church overnight. Thank you, BCRC! We also let families know milk was available after 4pm and another 80 gallons went out.)
The crew very quickly started filling boxes, so we only opened about 10 minutes late. We’ve never cut it that close before! We’re working on a better plan, so that won’t happen again. For sure, Farmer Frog will get faster, too.
A picture of the food box is attached. It comes with 5# potatoes, yellow onions, 3# apples, 32 oz. Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt, a block of cheddar cheese, cubed cooked chicken breast, chicken meatballs. We add to it lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, cucumber, green pepper, and eggs – all purchased at Costco and Cash & Carry.
The food truck is tomorrow night, 4-7pm. The Ultimate Melt is a new food truck for us. Come check it out.
Food Box Contents
For those of you who have been on this email for months may remember us saying good by to two dear ladies, Hilda and Maria back in July. Their families were stable enough to support themselves. We love these ladies so it was mixed emotions to have them leave. Well, they both returned this week to the program. Their families are struggling again, and the support from the Groceries for Families program is what fills the gap. While it is great to see them again, it is also discouraging that families who were making it in July and no longer now.
Today’s PM Crew
Thanks for another great day. Tomorrow we roll into October, which is hard to believe. Thank you for all you’re doing!
Have a great evening,
Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
