Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 1
Our recent fortune with the weather ran out today, with wind blowing all day and heavy rains coming down just as we opened at 1pm. The rain was coming in sideways, getting under the canopies for about 30 minutes. Blah! Fortunately, the wind died down, making the rain tolerable. Shoppers experienced a little wind with no rain this morning, which was fine. Lots of people came into the parking lot all morning long dropping off groceries and pantry items. Families were lined up across the lawn at opening time and kept coming right up until 3:10pm or so. It felt like a very smooth day, with the crew working quickly and efficiently. Week 13 of version 2 of ‘Groceries for Families’ is off and running.
Covenant Pres Delivery
Cornerstone Delivery
Groceries today were provided by Bellevue Presbyterian, Awakening, Victory Court, Covenant Presbyterian, Evangelical Chinese, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Creekside Covenant, Cornerstone Fellowship and Crossroads Bible churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 185 orders came in today, plus we made 14 extra orders yesterday. All went out to families today. Thank you to everyone who donated today!
We picked up fresh produce at Cash & Carry early this morning. Costco delivered lots of roma tomatoes. Meadowsweet Farms delivered 192 food boxes about 10:30am. Lots of food was flowing in this morning. King County Grant produce arrived on Sunday and Monday, both. Volunteers brought food from Safeway Bothell and QFC Crossroads. The start of the week is always abundant. The market looked great today.
Today’s AM Crew
The AM Volunteer Crew came from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. This crew of 8 received all the incoming groceries and processed them inside. They built about half the food boxes. It was a great time all morning. Thank you, CCF!
Ice cream bars were delivered yesterday as a donation from Moonie Icy Tunes Catering. They had a corporate event cancel after purchasing the ice cream, so some of it ended up here. We’ll hold it for a special market we’ll do this coming Friday for families. What fun!!! Thank you Scott and Sharon.
Ice Cream Delivery
Kid Quest Boxes
Kid Quest Museum in downtown Bellevue brought 200 Remote Learning Kits yesterday focused on Music, Math and Movement. They are intended for elementary age children. We passed them out today to families with kids in Kindergarten to 5th grade. Instructions were in English and Spanish. What fun!!! Thank you, Jamie.
Canopy Reconstruction
On Thursday, we took down the canopies for the four carports in the main yard to take them out of harms way with the heavy wind over the weekend. Yesterday, volunteers returned to put the canopies back up. With the strong winds today, the same volunteers returned this morning to secure the structures even more, using full buckets of water as weight. Thank you, Dan, Jeff, Gayle and Charlie.
A few good stories to share:
The truck with the food boxes was late arriving this morning. Due at 9:30am, it still wasn’t here at 10:30am, and we (read Ken here) were getting a bit anxious. Pastor Anton with Cornerstone quickly led a prayer to push away the anxiety and ask God to deliver the food on His time. Not 10 seconds after ‘Amen’ the truck appeared in the parking lot. Why do we worry?
Dan is a volunteer who covered a shift in the afternoon while families were here. He volunteers at Jubilee a lot, but this was his first opportunity to work the afternoon shift. In the end, he shared one very touching story. He pushed a full grocery cart out to a car for a family, loaded with food, diapers, and more. When they reached the car, the mom quickly opened the diapers just received and changed their baby in the back of the car. This family came to Jubilee needing the next diaper. They are living minute to minute, diaper to diaper. This is why we all help.
Lilly comes for groceries each Tuesday and always brings the crew bottled water. She is lovely and always lifts spirits. She knows Site Coach Jakeh from Big Picture, who also works on Tuesdays. Today she brought the crew lunch! There are homemade enchiladas, rice, and beans. (Jakeh got his own personal tray.) We will enjoy lunch tomorrow. She said that while she doesn’t have much, she can show us love through her cooking, so that is what she will do. So sweet. While you won’t be able to enjoy the food, please receive her thanks and love, as it is intended as much for all of you.
Thank you to everyone who continues to bring the extra pantry items, especially the call for diapers last week. It is working! The supply is stable. Our overall inventory for diapers is far down and needs to stretch to the end of the month when a purchased wholesaler delivery will arrive for all sizes but #6. Please keep stepping into this gap. We hope to not run out of diapers on any one day. Thank you!
Opening Time
We begin this week with 689 families in the program, representing 3,100 people. There were 30 families new to the program last week. There are 30 families on our ‘watch list’ who we are working with to come more regularly. There have been 38 families removed from the program since September 1. The demand remains very high. Another 12 new families entered the program today, so we are now over 700. It is likely we will need to run a waiting list soon, as both supply and time are getting stretched. We’re in discussions about that right now. Please pray with us over this decision.
Today’s PM Crew
With the new state restrictions around Covid-19, the ‘Groceries for Families’ program will not change. It is considered an essential service. There are no changes planned. We have had a very tight safety protocol in regards to the virus and will be steadfast in enforcing these.
Thanks for another great day. We wish you a pleasant evening, wherever this email finds you.
Serving together,
Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
