Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 5
Today was a busy day. Wow. At times, it just felt hard. It’s all good, but it just wasn’t one of those days which sailed along. We all felt it. The morning had a nice flow of incoming groceries, plus we had other deliveries. Lots of families came all afternoon, to the point where we had to use groceries set aside for deliveries. Fortunately, the weather was just perfect. The sun was warm and the north side of the building was nice and cool.
Covenant Pres Delivery
Groceries today came from Evangelical Chinese, Covenant Presbyterian, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Presbyterian, and Crossroads Bible churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 146 orders came in, plus we carried over 35 from yesterday by shifting out-going deliveries from Thursday to Friday. Of the 181 orders, all went out to families including 20 by delivery. There are 12 deliveries remaining, which we’ll do tomorrow. It was busy today.
ECC Delivery
Westminster Delivery
Awakening Church picks up extra food at the Union Gospel Mission warehouse in Kent each Friday morning and brings it to Jubilee.
Produce Delivery
Today, we provided the truck & driver. Ed returned with one pallet of beautiful fresh fruits & vegetables (lettuce, oranges, carrots, zucchini, cherries, kale, onions, potatoes, cabbage, and cilantro), and one pallet of bagged onions, peppers and shredded potatoes.
Pastor Gerardo
We lack the refrigeration and didn’t have the time/capacity to organize it all for the coming families here. So, we were able to invite Pastor Guzman from Viviente Dios Methodist Church in White Center to come and pick up most of it. See to the right picture of him & the full van.
As written in previous emails, this is a church whose members would be in this program, were they to live closer. We’ve become connected to them and provide them any excess food we can acquire from anywhere. Pastor Guzman cares for his flock and also cares for the surrounding community. It is a wonderful relationship, and he is doing an excellent job of pastoring his neighborhood.
Thank you Awakening, UGM, and Pastor Guzman.
Lunch for 25 senior citizens in the community was provided today by the Bellevue Fire Department and delivered by volunteers. Today was the last day for this Friday lunch, so we want to say thank you to the Bellevue Fire Department and all the volunteers who deliver each week. Thank you!
A nice load of books was donated this morning in English and Spanish. We kept one table in the market full all afternoon, and they kept disappearing. More will go out tomorrow. One set of Spanish Harry Potter books, #1-5, was a special addition. We held this back and presented it to Allison and her mom. Allison is delightful and known to many of the crew. She was thrilled to receive the books, especially in Spanish, and is likely reading book 1 right now. Thank you, Pam!
Market Today
The market was nice and full today. Along with the books, there was some clothing for women and young boys. We just put a few items out at a time, to keep people from truly shopping.
Potatoes, onions, lettuce, apples, oranges, and bananas were available. It’s so great to have the market open. Thank you to everyone who brings extras to make it so nice.
A personal story from Ken:
Edwin is a man who has been coming since the beginning and rarely if ever, has missed a day. He and I have connected as men, husbands, and fathers. He’s about 35, married with two kids. His English is great, so we’re able to have detailed conversations. His previous work was as a cook at a Seattle restaurant. His work has slowly returned in June, so last Thursday, he arrived for groceries at 3:30pm, half an hour after we close. He told me then that the following Thursday (yesterday) he would be even later, and asked if it was still possible to get groceries. I told him I’d likely be in my office, so just tap on the window. With the food truck last night, I was typing away to you all when the tap came around 6:00pm. I invited him inside the building lobby to wait, as I filled the grocery bags with the cold items. It was the first time he had ever been inside, which in itself is a funny thing to think about. He was still wearing his cook pants, so had just come from work. As is often the case when I’m one-on-one with someone, I asked him what else his family really needed right now. Giving extras is definitely part of the fun around here. Common answers are laundry soap, cleaning supplies or specific foods. He eyeballed the wall of toilet paper and said they could really use some TP. I grabbed a wrapped 6 pack of Kirkland brand TP and tossed it to him. His eyes lit up like I just threw him $1000. With nothing but sincerity and gratitude, he said their family was down to their last roll, and this has made his day. That this simple item, which so many take for granted, could cause such joy, quickly grabbed my heart for him. He is a papa caring for his family and needed basic toilet paper to do that. My heart just filled for love for this guy, who is me, just 15 years ago. He told me his first full paycheck should be coming next week, so he is expecting to be able to again provide food for his family without this program very soon. When he does leave, I’ll miss him.
Many of you have asked me to keep naming the top needed items. Thank you for that. Size 6 diapers are the most popular thing we provide. Our supply has been strong, but it goes so very fast. That is at the top of the need list. Next comes TP and paper towels.
Today’s PM Crew
The sun is shining! What a lovely evening in Bellevue right now. Thank you for another wonderful day in this ‘Groceries for Families’ program. May you be with people you love tonight.
Blessings to you all,
Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
