Groceries for Families: Week 5 - Day 3
April 22, 2020
We got wet today…very wet. The heavy stuff waited until exactly 1:00 pm to come down. Fortunately, we had five extra canopies loaned to us this week, so we’re able to give the first 13 spots in line some shelter, while still using the cones for safety spacing. See below for pictures shows the layout of canopies.
Groceries today were delivered by Bellevue Presbyterian, Highland Covenant, St. Louise Parish, and Bellevue Christian Reformed churches. A total of 84 orders came in and all of them went out to families. We thought the rain would keep people away. Fewer than ever came at 1:00pm, which is when the rain was hard. When it let up at 2:15pm, the rest of them came. It was a great day, despite the wet.
The remaining laundry detergent went out today, which means every family in the program was offered detergent this week. It was VERY popular. We will continue to collect it in the coming weeks and hope to do it again soon.
Lunches were delivered to home-bound senior citizens yesterday by Barb and her crew. Here’s a note from one of them to me yesterday: “Please thank the cooks for delicious lunches. Today it was a noodle casserole. Was it the fact that it brought back memories of a forgotten era? Home cooking? Or was it the fact that it was very tasty? Whatever it was, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to all!! Dorothy”.
A nice email from a family to share:
Hola Daniel soy mariana solo para agradecerles por tan lindo jesto a si a mi familia por tan bendecida ayuda mi esposo no trabaja somos 4 de familia el sostenía la casa el alimento y tenemos un niño con discapacidad y ahora con lo de cobi 19 estamos en casa dile a cada persona que dios se lo multiplique y nosotros se los agradecemos muchas gracias a todas las personas que an donado su tiempo para ayudarnos y gracias a ti Daniel por todo bendiciones. De parte de toda mi 👪 mil gracias
Hello Daniel, I am Mariana. Just want to thank you for the beautiful gesture towards my family with the blessed help. My husband is not working. We are a family of 4. He sustained the house, the food, and we have a kiddo with disabilities and now with COVID-19 we are at home. Tell every person that God may multiply and we thank you. Thank you to all the people who are giving their time the help us and thank you, Daniel, for everything. Blessings. On behalf of all my family. A thousand thanks.
An email back from Bellevue Presbyterian Church:
Shopping for groceries on Wednesdays and Saturdays has been a great experience for us at BelPres. This initially gave us the opportunity to express love and compassion for families impacted by the COVID pandemic by buying groceries. But it quickly evolved into something more. We have found that our people are enjoying the opportunity to get outside of their homes and to connect -maintaining social distancing - with other people. Checking in and briefly catching up with other church attenders and staff during the brief 3-5 minute drop off period, is a blessing for our folks. It’s been a great time of encouragement and community building in a season of social isolation. Thank you for such a great opportunity to serve and be served!
Me (Ken) in the rain
Thanks for all the work you’re doing to support this program. I hope these daily emails give you insight into the operation and stories to share with others.
Stay dry and healthy!
Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
