Well, today made up for some of yesterday, thankfully. The pace of families was normal and grocery output was great. Whew! The whole day was full of busy, busy, busy activities. The morning had a steady inflow of groceries. There was a big delivery just before 1pm, which is detailed below. The weather was warm but very tolerable. The crew worked very hard today – thank you! Such a gratifying day.

Groceries today came from Crossroads Bible, Evangelical Chinese, Covenant Presbyterian, Westminster Chapel, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 118 orders came in and all went out to families today, plus another 10 orders carried over from yesterday. Thank you everyone who participated today. We’ve made adjustments to tomorrow’s count, so should be back on pace for using all the groceries from yesterday.

One of the largest suppliers of extra food is Farmer Frog in Woodinville. They are a distribution point for farmers and other suppliers.

Today our crew took the Jubilee REACH Thrift Store truck to the farm and brought back a full load. In it was a pallet of dairy boxes, two pallets of produce (apples, onions, potatoes), one pallet of green bananas, and 4 pallets of watermelons. Woo Hoo! Bonanza!

The toughest point was the truck arrival time of 12:30pm, just before we opened for families. First came down the watermelons, which was quite a delicate delivery. See the attached pictures of the crew lifting the double-stacked pallets.

The dairy, bananas, and produce had to wait until the first wave of families went through. It was quite chaotic to have all this happening while we were trying to open the operation. It happened…but crazy times.

Thank you to the crew for all the extra effort. Families loved the watermelons and extra dairy, which were made available today.

The market was open today, also, with lots of great foods. Many shoppers brought extra bags today, which all went right to the market. Volunteers brought a load from the QFC Crossroads. Lake Sammamish Foursquare food bank brought baguettes from French Pastry and bananas. Thank you to everyone!

A personal story from Ken today:

You’ve heard from me the story of the Jewish family who we supply green vegetables to each week, in lieu of a normal grocery order. We’ve become quite close to their family. Many of you regularly provide fresh produce specifically for this family, which we save for Monday & Thursday pick up. It has become a wonderful relationship.

Today, the whole family came to see me at Jubilee REACH around 2:30pm. It is not their normal day, so it was surprising to see them. The father asked if we could help them with a medical bill. His wife had to go to an emergency on May 1st and be admitted to Overlake for two nights for a large cyst or something which grew suddenly on her face cheek. It had to be drained of a lot of puss and liquid during operation. She is fully recovered now.

The hospital charged just over $40,000. Of it, insurance paid about $8,500, and the hospital wrote off about $30,400. This left their family with a balance of $1,408, which they cannot pay. He has already paid three smaller bills from the visit, but this amount is far excessive for them.

This gave me a chance to ask for more details about their family. He told me that he is originally from Uzbekistan and left in 1990 while it was still part of the USSR. He went to Israel for 15 years, where he met his wife while she was there on vacation with her family. She had previously settled in Kirkland from Israel and was already a US citizen. They became engaged and he came to the US on a Fiancée visa in 2005. Their daughter was born in Bellevue and will start at Highland Middle School this fall. He could only find work as a taxi driver in Israel but had ambitions to become a computer technician. He achieved this goal in the US and was in this work until March. He has been unemployed since.

Please pray for this sweet family.

Another great day in the books. Tomorrow will mark the last day of the week. Cruising along. Thank you for being a part of this journey today.

Blessings to you all,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 19 - Day 5

Groceries for Families: Week 19 - Day 6

Groceries for Families: Week 19 - Day 4