January 21, 2021

The week ends on a very positive note with another very busy day. The weather cooperated with cold but tolerable temperatures and dry, calm conditions. We’ll take that any day: cold over rain – rain over the wind. The morning was a calm and steady flow of people coming to drop off groceries, milk, pantry, and hygiene items. Thank you to everyone who donated The afternoon was very busy with families for the first hour and then had a 15-minute lull, before finishing very busy for the last hour+. The last families went through at 3:35pm. There were about 10 families waiting to enter the waiting list. Very busy day, especially for a Thursday. All three days this week were busy.

Groceries today were provided by Doxa, First United Methodist, Sacred Heart Parish & School, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Overlake Park Presbyterian, Lighthouse, and Highland Covenant churches, as well as Champions Foundation, Rotary Bellevue Sunrise, and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 177 orders came in and all went out to families today, plus another 53 orders carried over from the past two days. Busy!!! Thank you to everyone who donated today.

Thank you to everyone who brought milk this week. From individuals bringing one, to groups bringing many, it took all of you to ensure all of the families had milk this week. Thank you so much for this extra effort and expense.

Milk is very, very popular and important, as most families have children. They have no idea of how the milk operation has changed this month but are all blessed to have it.

Thank you for making that happen. Next week, with the USDA boxes, we should not need the extra milk any longer. The only issue would be if there is a delay of the boxes by one or two days, which did happen in early November. If so, we will communicate quickly to you all.

The AM crew came from Westminster Chapel today, with one sub from Crossroads Bible Church. They worked very hard to receive the incoming groceries and milk. The outside temperature wasn’t cold enough to store the milk outside, so all of it had to go into refrigeration. They also packed food boxes. Great job and thank you, crew!

We received a new grocery delivery from Whole Foods today, delivered by volunteers. It will come weekly on Thursdays, which will give the Thursday families a fresh variety of goods in the market. Thank you, Brad and Carol!

Pastor Gerardo and his wife came from West Seattle this afternoon to take any remaining food we have to help his community. He has been our partner since the spring from El Dios Viviente Church in White Center and is helping support 400 families. He will also begin receiving food boxes next week. Please pray for his community, which has been really crushed by the lack of employment. We are blessed to be walking alongside each other.

We will be doing an extra market for families tomorrow afternoon, offering primarily non-perishable items. These are harder to put out on normal operation days.

A few stories:

Many of you have followed the updates over the months of the Jewish family we support in a unique way. They have been with us since the spring and only eat very specific fruits and vegetables. So, while they are registered for the program, they receive good completely outside the normal operation. We email them when food is available. Today, a donor supplies a box full of produce for them. (Thank you, Pam!) The Whole Foods delivery also had just the right items. We were able to give them a bountiful amount today. See the attached picture. The father returned late this afternoon to ask for paper hygiene items, as they do not use any chemicals of any kind. It is a great relationship.
Not all things go smoothly around here with the families. We and they are human after all. A few examples happened today to give some insight:
- Early last fall we changed the rules about families lining up early. They must now wait until the social distancing cones are placed before any bag can be left to hold a spot. No one may stand in the place of a cone in advance. Essentially, lining up early is not permitted. There had become ‘issues’ before. It has been great since. Today, about 6 people started hanging around the eventual front of the line about 10:00am, well before cones go out. Soon after, there was bickering and the assignment of ‘who was first’. We put a quick stop to it…forcefully…and reminded them it is not permitted. Cones went out at 10:45am. As soon as these same people descended to hold their spot, louder bickering immediately started about who got to be at which cone. We immediately put a stop to it…very forcefully…with a heavy fatherly scolding in the tone. They all know better. The main issue is culture. The two groups are Asian and Hispanic, sharing no common language. So there is no way for them to communicate or build a relationship. Sigh.
- This afternoon a woman approached Denisse to sign up for the program and was told she can come back at 3:15pm to do so. She didn’t like this and tried to bully her way through. She eventually came inside to find the Director (Ken). She was quite aggressive in exaggerating both the way she was being treated and how hard it was for her to wait in the cold. She wanted food now. When she didn’t get her way, she made a very rude comment to Denisse and left. It was quite an upsetting event. We will be watching for her return and will handle it appropriately. Beyond this, there is history with this individual being equally bullying and rude at the Jubilee Thrift Store. Double sigh.
A lady returned today, whom we had not seen for about a month. She’s a lovely person and very pleasant to chat with. When fresh vegetables were coming in the fall, she was always so excited to see the collard greens and mustard greens. She has a family recipe. It turns out she caught Covid-19 from her asymptomatic 19-year-old granddaughter, who lives with her. She had a rough time but did not have to go to the hospital. She isolated for 25 days. Today, she brought her grown son to help her. It was a nice reunion for us to see her. We’re so glad she is now fine. We gave her a full box of cleaning & hygiene supplies to help.

This was a great week. Lots and lots of food, pantry & hygiene items are getting out to families in this community who need it. Thank you for all you are doing. It is amazing to see the generosity and momentum of this community pull together to support some of the most vulnerable neighbors we have. Please keep going. Invite others to get involved. It is working.

Have a great evening and upcoming weekend.

Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family

Groceries for Families: Week 43 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 44 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 43 - Day 2