(First, a shout out and thank you to Ashley and Sam for filling my shoes four days last week. Plus, a big thank you to the full crew who watched over this program with their experienced eyes. My family had a great time camping off the grid on Lake Crescent. It feels good to be back.)

Today begins week 22 of the ‘Groceries for Families’ program, with today being day 126. Mondays tend to be lighter activity than other days, but today was a very typical day in the life of Monday. There was a lot of activity with 8 different groups dropping off groceries all morning long. A number of pantry items deliveries also came in, which is great. Families came all afternoon, with the biggest rush coming at 2:45pm, just before closing time. The weather was hot, but nothing like yesterday. We certainly lucked out that Sunday was the scorcher.

Groceries today came from Rain City, Lighthouse, Bellevue Presbyterian, 24-Seven, Common Good, Bellevue Christian Reformed, and Sacred Heart churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 111 orders came in and all went out to families today, including 23 by delivery. Thank you to everyone who participated today!

Both the market and the exit line tables were very full today with extra foods.

Lots have come in with grocery donations lately. Thank you!

Volunteers brought donations from the Thrashers Corner Safeway in Bothell and the Crossroads QFC. Thank you!

A sampling of what was available: bakery items, milk, fruit, vegetables, canned goods, dairy, loaves of bread, feminine hygiene, and more. Thank you!

Families were offered three personal hygiene items today from a selection of paper towels, toilet paper, bar soap, shampoo, shaving, deodorant, dish soap, and toothpaste.

For sure, the paper products are the most popular, as they are consumed the fastest. Thank you to everyone who filled the pantry this past week.

The food truck this week will be here Thursday. It is a Mexican cuisine which was here two weeks ago and is the best food we’ve seen here yet. Come try it!

A personal story from Ken:

There is a woman who comes regularly every Monday and Thursday. While I recognize her, I’ve not talked with her much as she doesn’t speak any English and is quite shy. Normally, I say hello and she gives a nice smile in return. Last Monday, she was at the front of the line while I was there, so I asked how her family was doing, in my poor Spanish. They are all fine. I then asked where she is from originally. She said Nicaragua. [Door opens] I shared, again in my poor Spanish that my family has been to Nicaragua twice on mission trips. With this new information, she lit up. She was so excited to hear I knew about Nicaragua. She is from Managua, where we served. I even told her the neighborhood and she knew it well. So, I pulled out my phone and a map of Nicaragua. Together, I showed her where we went, and she showed me the neighborhood where she is from. She then forgot totally that my Spanish is from 2 years in high school in the ’80s and proceeded to tell me all about Nicaragua in the fastest Spanish I’ve ever heard. I just kept nodding my head and smiling. She left very, very happy, as was I. Today, she returned and brought me a key chain gift of a Nicaraguan musical instrument. I’m excited to see where this new friendship and connection go in the coming weeks. Pretty cool.

We begin this week with about 500 families in this program. There are no families on the waiting list, as we’re currently adding new families as they show up. Thank you for all you’re doing to support these sweet families.

This program will be shifting to a new version on September 1. Details have been rolled out to the participating churches and more information is going out to others. Details will be included in this email in the coming days. The need in the community remains high, and together we can continue to walk alongside these families in crisis.

Enjoy the warmth of the evening,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 22 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 22 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 21 - Day 6