Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 6
As you know, Saturday is all accomplished in the morning, it's so unique from the rest of the week. The crew arrives at 8:30am, just as deliveries start coming. Most deliveries on this day come in large groups, which is very helpful for timing. Families line up while deliveries are still coming. Today, the last delivery came about 9:40am, which is just about right, for opening at 10:00am. The weather today was ideal for this operation: dry, warm but not hot. The whole day went smoothly and was very normal.
Victory Court Delivery
ECC Delivery
Groceries today came from Victory Court, Evangelical Chinese, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 160 orders came in and all went out to families today, including 14 by delivery. It was a great day! Thank you to everyone who participated today. Enjoy the time-lapse. Thanks, Sam.
The market was full today with lots of good things: fruits and vegetables, bags of shredded potatoes, baby formula, books, clothing, feminine hygiene and more. Thank you to everyone who gave extras.
Today was the last day of the week for the bulk food ingredients: flour, rice, pinto beans, sugar, and salt. Some numbers are listed below.
Thank you to everyone who helped fill the pantry with these items. The crew flips the lobby at the end of Saturday to get ready for Monday. It is now full of personal hygiene items and looks great. Thanks for filling it up everyone!
Ready for Monday
A personal story from Ken:
You’ve heard the ongoing story about a wife and her husband who is getting radiation at Overlake for a brain tumor. Today, she showed up about 9:30am and came to find me, asking if we could talk. In the parking lot, she told me two traffic citations arrived in the mail this week, each showing she made illegal right turns from NE 8th westbound to 112th Ave northbound on the way to the hospital. She asked for help in understanding what this is, why it is happening, and paying the fines. She doesn’t understand the process or what she should do. She was very distressed and said her husband was very angry. They don’t have the money ($124 x 2). I walked through the citations with her, offering encouragement that they are manageable and nothing which will impact her driving record. As we worked together to calm her down, she broke into tears. It’s so clear she is handling so many things in her life, and this one new worry is just too much. Watching her cry, my heart broke. I asked if I could give her a small hug, which she permitted, wanting her to know I was there with her in the worry. She will be following through on the option to request a hearing to explain the circumstances. Hopefully, her story will be sympathetic enough to offer some relief of the fine. I’ve offered to coach her through what to say and go with her if permitted. Please pray for her. If you want to send a note of encouragement for her, just drop it at Jubilee to me. I think she would love to hear from people in the community. She needs to know people care. I’ll keep you all posted on the outcome of the tickets.
Here’s a tally of the numbers for bulk ingredients given out over the three days this week:
Flour: 136 bags or 279 lbs
Rice: 230 bags or 575 lbs
Beans: 234 bags or 281 lbs
Sugar: 290 bags or 276 lbs
Salt: 229 bags or 149 lbs
As with each Saturday, here’s a look at statistics to date after 16 weeks:
Program Days: 96
Families currently in the program: 604+
People in these families: 2713 (approximate)
Grocery orders provided to-date: 15,376
Churches & Organizations engaged: 28
Different shoppers participating: 1000 (approximate)
We end this week with about 604 families in the program, each coming twice per week. No new families were on-boarded this week, although about 20 were added to the waiting list. A total of 39 families exited this week, so there will be about 565 families in the program as of Monday.
Today’s Crew
Today marks the last day of week 16 of this ‘Groceries for Families’ program. It continues to cruise right along with so many good things happening. Thank you all for the continued participation, prayers, support, and love for the people of our community. It’s just so great to be in this with you all.
Thanks for a great week. Tomorrow is a day of rest. Be back Monday.
Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
