How can it possibly be December? Wow, that seems unbelievable. The weather sure felt less December-like with a sunny but cold day. Of the three (wind, rain, or cold), we would take cold any day over the other two. The combo of wind and rain is the worst. No complaints today. We begin week 14 of V2 of GFF on a very positive note. Lots of great things are happening in this program. Shoppers streamed in all morning with deliveries of groceries and pantry items. It is quite overwhelming to see the continual support from the community each day. Thank you! Families came all afternoon and seemed to be in very good spirits today. It was a very typical day in GFF – smooth and wonderful.

Groceries today were provided by Awakening, Covenant Presbyterian, Evangelical Chinese, East Shore Unitarian, Westminster Chapel, Creekside Covenant, Bellevue Presbyterian, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Crossroads Bible and Cornerstone Fellowship churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 209 orders came in and all went out to families today. Thank you to everyone who donated today.

The AM crew was from Crossroads Bible Church this morning. It was busy, and they worked hard. There was a lot to organize and get ready for the afternoon. The fellas just kept moving forward and got it done. Thank you, CBC crew!

Lots of great food was here today to compliment the groceries. Food boxes came from the USDA, arriving about 10:30am. Volunteers brought donations from Safeway Thrashers Corner in Bothell. Volunteers brought donations from Crossroads QFC. Volunteers brought donations from Safeway Redmond via Renewal Food Bank. Produce from King County farms came via the grant, delivered by Cascadia Produce. It’s so great to give such a variety to families. Thank you everyone.

Lunches were delivered to 25 senior citizens in the community by Barb (Hospitality Manager at Jubilee) and her crew. A special addition was provided by a generous donor today. Each household (15) was given a Christmas wreath and a door hanger for the front door. Barb said it caught people by surprise and gave instant joy to all. What a great way to start the season! Thank you!

An email from a family today:

I want to thank you for your great help that you have given us in this pandemic, my family and I are very grateful for the food, for the hygienic products, for making you very happy with sweets on Halloween, and because we feel that we are not alone at this time. so difficult, I don't have a job and my husband earns very little but thanks to your help we can feel more at ease because there is always food in our home, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and may God bless you very much.

An email received from a family who was able to be helped by the Jubilee Elves Christmas program:

I am very worried about my children this Christmas, I did not find any place where they will support me to give them gifts at Christmas. I had registered in a place but my husband did not want to give a copy of his identification, he says no. I have a problem with my address for a year when I had to return with my husband after I was living in a shelter with my children and the agency put us out of the Shelter and they never helped us as promised nor to make the transition to a house or anything, it was a very sad experience, and I do not have my valid identification because the one I renew never arrived because the post office ignored helping me to have my address again, where I have lived for a year. In the past days, I wrote a text to Bellevue Lifespring asking for Christmas help but they tell me that my children's school did not give them my information and being that we need a lot the help and the social worker knows it. My husband had told me that maybe I could buy them something but his only old car's brakes just broke down and he say me I am sorry for Christmas. I don't have a job and I'm 100 percent dependent on him. I just want to ask you please if you could help me so that my children do not run out of Christmas, they have not asked much and it has been a very difficult year, I just wanted to make them happy, God bless you and thank you very much! 🙏🏻 Thank you a lot and greetings

We begin this week with 686 families in the program and another 40 on the waiting list. Last week, 1 new family was added and 11 were removed. There are 56 families on the “watch list”, which means they aren’t coming regularly and may be removed. We communicate with them to try and learn why they can’t come. We made the decision yesterday to invite the first 14 families on the waiting list to enter the program formally. If they do, we’ll be back to 700 families in the program.

Some of you have asked for more details about the waiting list, as we’ve capped the program at 700 families currently. Here are the details of what happens. When a new family comes to inquire about the grocery program, we ask them to come back at 3:15pm Tue, Wed or Thu. At that time, anyone needing food help is registered onto the waiting list and given an orange identification card. Families in the full program have a white program. The card allows them to come for food once each week on a set day at 3:15pm. Upon receiving the card and each week they return, they are provided a USDA food box, milk and permitted a full trip through the market. We are getting extra food boxes weekly to account for these extra families and so far, have had enough. There are a few things they do not receive: a non-perishable grocery bag, a pantry/hygiene bag with such things as diapers. This is the one major difference, as well as coming at the end of each day. It is a good system and is working well. We hope to bring families into the program as quickly as space allows. No matter what, we want to make sure these families are given food, as well as welcomed as important members of this community.

Thank you for another great day,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 36 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 36 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 35 - Day 3