Groceries for Families: Week 2 - Day 1
March 30, 2020
Today is the 1st day of week 2 for this program and the first time to go from 20 families to 60. Groceries today were provided by CityHill Bellevue, Lighthouse Christian, and Rain City Churches. Delivery was smooth and on time, ahead of the rough weather that came later.
New processes and procedures were introduced today to account for the larger group of people expected with the 60 families, all with the goal of being safe & keeping people separated. The staff now all dons yellow vests and cones keep people separated in line. With no exceptions, the families followed the rules and were happy to have the precautions taken. Other than the heavy hail and rain at times, today was very calm and smooth for having so many orders going out.
A few stories for you:
An email from a family: “To: The volunteers and staff at Jubilee Reach. Thank you for your time, your service has made a difference in our lives. We are Thankful for the food and the other items we have received. God Bless you all, Debra – grandmother, grandkids- age 10, age 8, age-2”
An email from a church volunteer coordinators (common sentiments shared by other, too): “Thank you so much for coordinating this. You are not only helping those that need the groceries. You are also helping those who want desperately to be able to help. I have had a hard time sitting at home wishing I could be out there helping. Being in the higher risk category, I know it's wise to stay in, but it's been difficult. (It's hard getting older...) This task has given me something to do that is making a difference for those that are hurting. And it's giving our people a way to help.”
An email from a family: “I just wanted to take the time to say thank you so much for everything! Especially with the diapers that really helped us out this week and thank you to the volunteers/ delivery volunteers really helped out having our stuff delivered especially with two kids. Again thank you jubilee reach!”
Please share these stories. The service being provided by the many volunteers, who never get to see the families face to face, are making a difference in this community.
Welcome to the Evangelical Chinese Church of Redmond and Covenant Presbyterian Church of Issaquah to the grocery program. CPC has been providing bulk items and personal hygiene from the beginning and is now adopting families on Fridays.
There are now 205 families in this program. The waiting list is clear, so everyone who has been referred to Jubilee is being served. We’ll see if it grows. Thank you all for stepping forward to answer the need.
Bless you!
Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
