Groceries for Families: Week 7 - Day 3

Wherever you were today, you may have experienced the same crazy weather as here:  sun, rain, heavy rain, sun, rain, thunder, lightning, hail, major hail, rain, sun, warm.  It was insane!  Those outside got plenty wet.  Families stayed away from about 1:30-2:15pm during the really heavy stuff.  For sure, we lost a few people who never came out because of the weather, but most did come.  See below for pictures and video of the hail.

Groceries today were provided by Highland Covenant, St. Louise Parish, Bellevue Presbyterian, and Bellevue Christian Reformed Churches.  A total of 126 orders came and all of them went out to families.  Without the rain, we might have run out…whew!

Today was Day 1 of the Mother’s Day Special, which has been a week in the planning and came together beautifully.  See’s Candy donated lots of premium chocolate last Friday. 

Thank you!  This week a small crew has been wrapping the chocolate and adding ribbon, stickers, and notes.  Many of the grocery orders came with bouquets of flowers and lovely cards.  24-Seven Church provided 40 extra bouquets and hand-made cards (see below pictures), just in case, and we needed them all. 

Card Outside

Card Inside

We made a point to present each mother with the three items separately from the groceries, so they were given the Mother’s Day gifts special.  Barb and Kate (part of the candy crew) handled the delivery (picture below), and it is beyond words to do justice to the love and joy felt by the mothers.  Over and over, women were not only surprised to receive such acknowledgement, but were truly honored to be recognized as Mother’s on this special occasion. 

Barb and Kate

One woman, who is a mother and grandma & speaks only a little English, started to cry when presented with her gifts.  My role was to carry her groceries to her car.  When we reached her car, she opened the hatch and leaned in to hold herself while she cried.  It was all I could do to not hug her.  She just said thank you over and over. 

The next order of groceries carried out was to the same car, who turned out to be her brother.  When he opened the side door, I saw that she was in the driver’s seat sobbing uncontrollably.  My heart both broke and burst with love for her.  Thank you to all who made this day happen!  There are two more days.

Elsie Bencke

Elsie Bencke (picture on left) returned to pass out kits she made for kids 2-6 years old.  We put her in a yellow vest, so she could ask families who could use such fun:  stickers, bubbles, crayons, games, more. 

It was very special and a welcome treat for the little ones in the family.  Thank you, Elsie!  Come back again soon.

The senior lunches were delivered again yesterday to 24 people in the community.  A picture of a pinwheel is on the right. These were given out with some of last week’s lunches.  Today, Gina found this one in a man’s garden with the names Barb, Gina and Ashley (the drivers), as well as Jubilee, written on it. 

Very special!  Thank you, ladies.

One email from the senior lunches yesterday:  “Barb asked me to share with you some of the comments I received yesterday when dropping off the senior lunches. The women were so happy and excited that we provided them with the See’s candy tins for Mother’s Day. Also, one of the adult son’s (Peter, son of Eta) was over when I dropped off the lunch to his mom and he was so appreciative that Jubilee was providing this for her. He’s not able to make it over there as often as he’d like so he’s grateful that we are stopping in weekly with lunch and checking in on her. Eta was so happy to receive the See’s candies as “she’s got a real sweet tooth”

The crews, AM & PM, worked so hard to pull things together today.  With the Mother’s Day additions, it added a layer of complexity to manage.  They were just awesome.  Thank you to you all!

Tomorrow we will switch from personal hygiene items to bulk ingredients, which are very popular.  The bins are full and ready to go.

Such a great day!  Thank you for the love poured into these families.  Please continue to pray for them.

Have a great evening.  Warm temperatures are coming!

Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family