V2 begins! Well, really it is V1.5 for now, but still. Thanks for continuing the journey and following along on this email. Today picked up where Saturday left off, but with a number of changes. The new orders came in all morning long and looked just great. There many favorable comments about the ease of the new shopping list and how stocking up is helpful. Awesome! There were many new faces, too, which is wonderful to see. Thank you, everyone! The afternoon went well but was very challenging for the crew and families. Details are below. Anytime something new is started, it is difficult and slow. That was today. But, we are through day 1 and will make changes constantly to get better.

Groceries today came from Bellevue Christian Reformed, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Cornerstone, Creekside Covenant, Westminster Chapel, Evangelical Chinese, Covenant Presbyterian, and Victory Court churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 140 orders came in today. We had been saving the shopping list items for a few weeks leading up to today, so yesterday made 34 extra orders. So, there were 174 orders ready today. All but 11 went out to families today. Thank you to everyone who participated! Wow!

As you have read, the expected USDA food boxes are delayed until September 22. Late last week's plans started to fall into place about how enough perishable foods would be found. Over the weekend, more came into focus. Yesterday, more still came to light. This morning, all of it merged at Jubilee. It allowed the crew to create food boxes which included milk, cheese, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and meat. Enough frozen meat has been coming in from QFC Crossroads lately, that we were able to provide each family with on package of meat. In fact, we gave families a choice of beef, chicken, or pork. There were even fish available upon request. It worked! Families went away with a very good amount of quality food, which will give them a good start on the week.

This was the hardest day yet for the crew, both physically and emotionally. It was also hard for the families, as the line stretched 30 deep onto the grass from 1:00-3:30pm with no breaks. We carried groceries out to cars for most people, which was very tiring. Emotionally, the crew had to unlearn old habits and start new ones. It will get faster. Everyone was very spent.

The exit lane tables were full with all sorts of extras today. Volunteers delivered from the Safeway Thrashers Corner and QFC Crossroads. Watermelons from Farmer Frog and fresh cantaloupe were very popular with everyone. Thank you everyone who gave extra today.

The food truck will be here tomorrow night, 4-7pm. Cascadia Wood-Fired Pizza. Come!

We’ve invited the School District to refer up to 100 new families to this program. There is clearly a need in the community and the BSD teachers & administrators are in an ideal place to be in a relationship with such families. We hope to see new families showing up each day, so they can be onboarded into the program immediately. We have 4 walk-ins today.

Thank you for your devotion to supporting these families. It matters and it is working! Pray for them, too. It is needed.

Have a great evening,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 24 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 24 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 23 - Day 6