Today started with light rain and finished in heavy rain. Fortunately, the families missed most of the heavy stuff, so no one got really wet. It was a busy, busy 9-10am window, where we work to get 3 hours of work done in 1 hour before opening. Such is Saturday.

Groceries today were provided by Victory Court, Evangelical Chinese, and Bellevue Presbyterian Churches. A total of 130 orders were delivered and nearly all of them went out to families. The rain definitely kept some people away, which can be expected. But overall, it was a great day.

Today’s Time Lapse

Enjoy the time-lapse!

You can see the groceries coming in and the conveyor belt in the center sending them out.

It is a well-oiled machine.

Here’s a count of the bulk food items given out this week, just for fun

Flour: 174 bags, 435 pounds
Rice: 242 bags, 605 pounds
Pinto Beans: 185 bags, 222 pounds
Sugar: 255 bags, 243 pounds
Salt: 202 bags, 132 pounds

We periodically provide extra food and box lunches to a Hispanic Methodist church in West Seattle at the end of the week. It’s been a cool connection to the other side of the lake.

Here’s a text the Pastor sent me yesterday:

Hi Ken.
I hope you and your family are well. On behalf of El Dios Viviente UMC, I want to say thanks to you and all the people who make it possible to obtain and distribute food, especially in this pandemic caused by Covid 19. Our church serves the Hispanic / Latino community, which has been greatly impacted. Many people have lost their jobs, many of them without the hope of receiving any government aid, and this makes it more difficult to obtain the basic elements for life, such as food. With the help of the Jubilee, 179 families have benefited.

Thank you for all.
Pastor Gerardo Guzmán.

As I do each Saturday, here’s a look at statistics to date after 6 weeks:

Program Days: 36
Families currently in the program: 465+
People in these families: 2092 (approximate)
Grocery orders provided: 3450
Churches & Organizations engaged: 27
Different shoppers participating: 850 (approximate)

Two new churches have joined the grocery program: Victory Court (started today) and First United Methodist (starts Thursday). Welcome to both!

Today marks the end of the 6th week of this program. The initial 8-week window for the program has been extended now 4 weeks to June 13. We’ll make another assessment by June 1.

Thank you for your continued commitment to serving a very vulnerable part of our community. What is being done together, simply could not be done alone. It takes all of us to sustain this, and it is truly a marvel to be a part of.

Tomorrow is a rest day. Be back Monday.

Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH

P.S. Below is a panoramic photo of the birthday party yesterday, including those who joined via video.
Very cool.

Groceries for Families: Week 6 - Day 6

Groceries for Families: Week 7 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 6 - Day 5