What a difference a day & 10 degrees makes. It was definitely nice to be back to the Puget Sound summer. Today was another smooth day with lots and lots going on. The morning was full of activity with deliveries of food boxes, groceries and hygiene items. The afternoon was a steady pace of families coming, which the crew appreciates, instead of massive rush and then no one. We did a simple BBQ on the patio again, which boosts everyone’s spirits. Ed did an excellent job of grilling!

The groceries today came from Crossroads Bible, Cornerstone, Creekside Covenant, Westminster Chapel, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 136 orders came in and all went out to families today, including 9 by delivery. Thank you to everyone who participated today.

Pacific Coast Produce was late this morning due to a driver switch, arriving around 8:45am. Five pallets of food boxes were dropped off at Jubilee, and three were quickly picked up by

El Dios Viviente Methodist Church in White Center, Seattle. Pastor Guzman and his wife are supporting about 70 church families and another few hundred families in the community there.

It is such a wonderful relationship we’ve built over the months. The remaining two pallets were quickly emptied of all perishable items into the refrigerator. They will all go out to families over the next few days.

There wasn’t a normal market today, due to the spacing of the food boxes.

Instead, we lined the main walkway with tables and covered them with everything available: potatoes, apples, onions.

A volunteer brought extra things from the food bank at Lake Samm Foursquare Church also: baguettes, basil, grapes, and pizza dough.

All of it made for a nice selection for families.

An email from family today:

Hola Daniel, Pues ayer fui por mi última despensa y como siempre todo el personal que atiende fue muy amable tuve la oportunidad de despedirme de algunos. Me hubiera gustado verte para darte las gracias personalmente. Pero por aquí te doy las gracias a ti, y a todo el personal que trabajaron y siguen trabajando ayudando a las familias, Pero sobretodo a esas lindas personas de buen corazón ❤️ que donaron de sus recursos para que las familias tuvieran suficientes alimentos en sus mesas, estos difíciles tiempos. Espero que la situación cambie pronto para todos y volvamos a la normalidad y quedarnos solo con un mal recuerdo, nuevamente MIL GRACIAS! por todo el apoyo y la ayuda que recibí, que Dios los bendiga. Andy

Hello Daniel, Well, yesterday was my last day to pick up groceries and like always, all the personnel who attends was very kind. I had the opportunity to say goodbye to someone. I would have liked to have seen you to personally say thanks. But through here I say thank you, and to all the staff who have worked and continue to work in helping families. But overall to all the beautiful people of good heart ❤️ who donated resources so families had enough food on their tables in these difficult times. I hope the situation will change soon for all and we can go back to normal and we will just be left with a bad memory. Again, A THOUSAND THANKS! For all the support and help I received. May God bless you. Andy

A personal story from Ken:

As we opened at 1pm today, I went out to greet everyone in line, which is a normal activity for me. Sitting at one of the picnic tables was a man I’ve greeted many times but not spoken to much beyond that. Sitting down across from him, I asked how his family was doing. They are all well. He shared that this week he finally went back to his job for two shifts. He has worked at a restaurant in Lincoln Square as a busser for over 5 years and last had a shift in late March. He said they have been doing only to-go orders, so haven’t had a need for a full staff. Now, they are offering limited in-restaurant dining, so his job is slowly coming back. He doesn’t know when he’ll get another shift or when he’ll get back to full-time, but he remains hopeful it will come. He’s a very nice man, who is clearly underemployed at the restaurant. He’s originally from Guatemala. It seems his situation is a very normal one for the families in this program. Please join me in praying for this man and his family.

Many of you have clearly been giving extra food and items for the hospitality boxes being made available Wed and Sat for the 45 families on the ‘waiting list’. Thank you! There are currently about 20 boxes ready for tomorrow and enough food to make 20 more if needed. We’re working hard to continue to invite these families to come.

Thanks for a great day. Enjoy the evening, wherever you are,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 19 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 19 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 19 - Day 1