Groceries for Families: Week 32 - Day 2
The steady rain from yesterday gave way to a mix of weather today, including much warmer temperatures. T-shirts are back! Rain showers rolled through all day, but we enjoyed plenty of dry, too. The morning was busy early with shoppers rolling in at 7:30am and keeping a steady pace all morning. Thank you! The line of families stayed at least 20 deep all afternoon until about 3:15pm. It was very, very busy today. Lots of food and pantry items went home with people today. Such a smooth day!
Groceries today were provided by St. Louise, 24-Seven, Bellevue Presbyterian, Calvary Chapel Eastside, Newport Covenant, Crossroads Bible and Bellevue Christian Reformed churches, as well as the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Bellevue and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 194 orders came in today and all went out to families, including 3 by delivery. Wow! Busy day. Thank you to everyone who donated today.
Perishables for today were stored at Crossroads Bible Church since Friday and were delivered to Jubilee this morning by volunteers and CBC staff. Thank you CBC for the great partnership! Additional produce was purchased this morning from Cash & Carry Bellevue and added to all the boxes. Along with the non-perishables from shoppers and the bag of pantry items, families went home with a good assortment.
The market was full of all sorts of good stuff. Fresh produce from the King County grant was plentiful: kale, squash, red beets, Brussel sprouts. Volunteers delivered from QFC Crossroads a truck full of different squash varieties. Wow, so fun! They also brought lots of other assorted items, too. Thank you to everyone who gave extras for the market today.
The AM volunteer crew came from 24-Seven Church today. They did everything this morning to prepare the operation for a successful afternoon. Thank you, crew!
A story from today:
There is a lady who comes on Wednesdays to get groceries, usually about 1:20pm or so. Once through the line, she stays in the market area and has essentially created a job for herself as a “market monitor” for the next 30-45 minutes. She keeps things straightened, empties items from boxes, rotates inventory, adds new items, cleans…pretty much anything to help the market operate well. She does this quietly and is quite serious about doing it well. We kid her that she’ll have to start wearing a yellow vest if she keeps helping. She would, too!
An email from a family today:
Por medio de este correo quiero darles las gracias a cada uno de los que hacen posible este bonito trabajo. Yo soy madre soltera de 4 hijos y un nieto y fui positiva del covid-19 y mis hijos también debido a eso perdí mi trabajo ya que soy inmigrante y eso algunas veces no nos da derecho a derechos laborales. Desde entonces ustedes proveen alimentos para mí y mi familia. Ahora ya tengo otro trabajito y de todos modos es difícil para mí y con su gran apoyo que me siguen dando la carga es más fácil. Gracias por su generosidad. Y por qué siempre nos han apoyado que Dios los bendiga a todos ustedes y a sus familias.
Through this email, I want to thank each one who makes this beautiful work possible. I’m a single mom with 4 kids and a grandson and I was positive with COVID-19 and my kids too. Because of that, I lost my job, I’m an immigrant, and that sometimes does not give us labor rights. Since then you have provided food for me and my family. Now I got another job and still, it’s difficult for me and with your great support, it is easier for me. Thanks for your generosity. And because you have always supported us, may God bless all of you and your families.
The details for the new USDA Farm to Families program are falling into place. One of the distributors awarded the federal contract is Cascadia Produce in Auburn. We have been in a relationship with them in other ways already, so this is an ideal situation for the grocery program. Right now, it appears they will be able to start the delivery of food boxes on Tuesday of next week and will continue through December 31. While the full contents are not yet known, for sure it will be some produce, milk, cheese, chicken, and, for the first time, fresh eggs. We are anxious to learn more details and will share them with you soon. Please continue to pray for this. Many of you have been asking, and it is great to have you so tuned to this transition with us. Thank you.
We hope the wind of this evening doesn’t harm the canopies in the grass. The newest two canopies, which went up last night, are not yet fully secured like the others. They should hold, but it is worrisome as the gusts come through.
Thanks for another great day. Thank you for loving these sweet families in our community. It is working and matters so much.
Have a nice evening,
Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family