Groceries for Families: Week 17 - Day 1

Week 17 begins with day 97. The crew is on countdown watch for day 100 this Thursday. What a great day today! Perfect weather and smooth operation all day. Mondays have 8 different groups delivering all morning, so it is a constant flow of vehicles backing in with groceries and pantry items. Families were coming all afternoon, which was awesome! Here we go!

24-Seven Delivery

24-Seven Delivery

Common Good Delivery

Common Good Delivery

Groceries today came from 24-Seven, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Sacred Heart, Lighthouse, Rain City, Common Good, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group.  A total of 152 orders came in and all went out to families today, with 6 orders held back for morning deliveries.  Twenty-three orders went out by delivery today.  Thank you to everyone who participated today!  What a great day.

Lighthouse Delivery

Lighthouse Delivery

The market was nice and full today:  fresh produce (lovely greens from Holy Cross Lutheran gardens), corn tortillas, baby formula, feminine hygiene, canned goods, books, kids’ clothing, and more. 

A volunteer has connected us to the QFC Crossroads and will be delivering items three times a week.  Today, cherries, frozen meat, and bakery goods added a nice touch to the market. 

Thank you everyone who gave extras.

Holy Cross Delivery

Holy Cross Delivery

Pantry items were offered today, which everyone getting a choice of 3 items out of about 8 options.  Thank you to everyone who helped fill the pantry the past few days.

BCRC Delivery

BCRC Delivery

Jubilee Friends Delivery

Jubilee Friends Delivery

We made the decision to not offer diapers for the first three days of the week, which is the first time we’ve not offered them.  The reason is to allow the inventory to build a bit, as the outflow of diapers is quite a lot each day.  No one expressed any worry to us today, which was great.  We’ll offer them again at the end of the week.  It felt like a good time to take a pause.  Indeed, lots of diapers came in today, so the inventory did go up.


A personal follow up story from Ken:

  • A mom was here today and sought me out for an update.  Her son is a 3-year-old who had a serious seizure last month and stopped breathing.  They are continuing with tests at Children’s in Seattle but no diagnosis has been found yet.  They have put him on medicine for now, but she shared how it makes her uneasy to have her young child on meds.  She is new to the whole thing, with her three older children not having any such medical issues.  She is taking each day one at a time and is thankful Leo is steady right now.  

    I asked her how else we could help their family right now.  She said they need help with their Puget Sound Energy bill.  Her husband is slowly getting back to work, right now at 3 days per week.  He has had to trim a few shifts because of their son’s hospital visits.  Their PSE bills have been deferred for months, so are piling up.  PSE is pressing them to pay a significant portion of it now.  I’ve asked her to send me a copy of the bill, but she said it is around $800 currently.  Wow.  If anyone would like to help contribute to covering this, do let me know.

    I assured her many people are praying for them, so we all appreciate her update on her son.  Please keep praying.  I’ll update you as I get news.


Today’s PM Crew

Today’s PM Crew

We begin this week with about 565 families in the ‘Groceries for Families’ program, all coming twice per week.  The next larger batch of families to exit the program will come at the end of next week.  We’re in close communication with many of them and are pleased some of them are finding stability again.  They are all cautious, knowing how quickly things can go backward.  Please pray for these families.  They are lovely people, and life is hard right now.  One woman said today, “We are so fortunate to have you guys by our side.  Thank you for your support.”  This is passed to you all.

Enjoy the warmth of the evening,

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

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Groceries for Families: Week 17 - Day 2

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Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 6