Did anyone else see that storm come through this afternoon? No fun. The weather report early this morning said morning showers with sun breaks in the afternoon. Yeah, not so much. The rain persisted much of the morning and turned stormy while families were here. The rain came down very hard at times, which gave our gutter system a good test. Shoppers braved the weather all morning, dropping off a steady stream of groceries, diapers, and pantry items. Thank you!!! The families had no choice to face the weather and seemed to be in good spirits, despite the cold.

Groceries today were brought by St. Louise, 24-Seven, Crossroads Bible, Calvary Chapel Eastside, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Bellevue Presbyterian and Newport Covenant churches, as well as the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Bellevue and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 202 orders came in and all went out to families today. It was a very busy day, which seems to be par for the course on Wednesdays. The last families didn’t finish until 3:40pm, which is the latest ever. The rain definitely slowed things down. Overall, it was a very good day. Thank you to everyone who participated today.

A few weeks ago one of the main carports in the yard was damaged by a strong wind.

Since then replacement parts were ordered and the remaining canopies were much more firmly secured to the ground. The new parts arrived yesterday and two volunteers came this morning to build and secure the carport.

It took them a good hour+ in the rain to get it in place. A donor delivered two bales of straw, which volunteers spread under the new 20’ of coverage. Families today enjoyed the new dry zone, which was really needed.

There are now 10’ x 100’ of coverage in the grass, all with straw to keep the mud down. This allows us to have two lines of cones, each spread 7’ apart for social distancing. That’s about 28 families undercover, plus another 8 closer to the building. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

The food truck this morning didn’t show up as scheduled at 9:30am. After yesterday, we gave them a little grace. At 11:10am, we texted Cascadia Produce only to learn they has mistakenly left us off the list today. Gulp! They were able to quickly load a truck, which arrived at 12:18pm and was unloaded at 12:40pm. This meant the PM crew had to quickly finish the packing of the boxes on the fly, while families were here. We are fortunate to have had the perishable food here today. Whew!

There was an editorial article in The Seattle Times last week, which touches on exactly what is happening with the ‘Groceries for Families’ program: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/remember-the-hungry-as-the-winter-of-covid-19-nears/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_inset_1.1

A few emails from families:

Hi, I would like to thank all the people that helped and are helping to provide groceries and other items for my family each Wednesday. We are a one income family of six. God bless you all. Have a great day! Thank you so much!
Hi, I would like to write a thank-you letter for people who were so generous and supporting. (I lost my work since COVID 19 started and everything was super hard to maintain. A lot of bills and short working opportunities. I was really struggling, specially kids were involved and as a single mom. I couldn't let them feel any differences from a regular life routine. The rent and food assistance made a huge difference in my life. I hope one day I can support my community, help others and make a difference in someone’s life. I am so grateful.

We made the decision today to cap the program at the current 701 family level. There have been many weeks of discussion that led to the decision.

The main points are 1) the number of families has continued to steadily rise, 2) the amount of food received daily is equal to or slightly less than what is needed to support these families, 3) the amount of time needed to serve these families daily has regularly gone past the 2-hour window and is now nearly 2.5 hours daily. There seems to be little change in point 1, which has 5-20 new families coming to Jubilee daily. While we want to help everyone, we recognize there is a limit to what this operation can handle. For point 2, we are seeking new sources of food. Non-perishables means finding new partners in the community. Perishables mean getting food boxes from a 2nd distributor, likely with us picking it up. Point 3 is the most difficult of all, as we can’t just create more time. There are limits to what we can do with the labor available. Stay tuned for more details as the days progress.

New families arriving at Jubilee will be asked to wait until the end of the day, about 3:15pm. We will register them onto the waiting list of the program, giving them an orange ID card, instead of the normal white. We will provide them whatever food we can from the inventory available. Today, we had about 12 families come through at the end with the orange cards. All received milk, meat, and plenty of produce. We won’t let any family leave without food. Each family on the waiting list will be invited to return each week at the end of the day with their ID card. We’ll do what we can to give them whatever food is available. It is very likely, the waiting list will be growing substantially in the coming weeks. Please pray for this. Please pray for discernment of what we should do. Please pray for the resources to become available. If you discern anything through your prayers, please respond to this email.

There are certain challenges we face daily: worsening weather, long lines of families, inconsistent food delivery, ever-changing details. However, regardless of what challenges we are facing, the families are facing far more difficult challenges. Part of what this program is trying to do is support the families as they face these challenges. That is done through food, diapers, pantry items, and more. It is also done through compassion, friendship, community, and being with them at the moment. They too face the weather. They are the ones waiting in the long lines. They need food. They have to adapt to all the changing details. Life is hard. This is how it is right now. And we (you, us, this community) must stay with them. Where else should we be?

Thank you for staying with them. Bless you all.

Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family

Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 1