Groceries for Families: Week 38 - Day 2
December 16, 2020
The weather was nice today until it wasn’t. The morning had dry weather for the flurry of people bringing groceries and pantry items. There were lots and lots of happy people coming in. Right at 1pm, as we opened for families, the rain started. It stayed steady and often hard all afternoon and early evening. Families arrived early, with the line stretching across the lawn all afternoon. People seemed to be in a good mood, with lots of smiles. It was a great day.
Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Delivery
Crossroads Bible Delivery
Groceries today were delivered by Bellevue Breakfast Rotary, Rotary Club of Bellevue and the Jubilee Friends group, as well as Calvary Chapel Eastside, Newport Covenant, Victory Court, Indian Fellowship, St. Louise, Crossroads Bible, Bellevue Presbyterian, 24-Seven and Bellevue Christian Reformed churches. A total of 286 orders were delivered today, which was 52 more than expected. Wow! Thank you for the extra orders. Most of the expected orders went out today, and the rest will go out first tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who donated today.
Bellevue Rotary Club Delivery
Food boxes arrived early today at 7:45am. Eggs from Costco arrived soon after. Volunteers brought food from the QFC Crossroads at about 11:00am. The AM volunteer crew was from Bellevue Presbyterian today. They did a great job of receiving the strong in-flow of groceries and pantry items, as well as packing about half the food boxes. Thank you crew!
Today’s AM Crew
The handing out of Holiday Women’s Gift Bags continued today from Crossroads Bible Church. Two volunteers spent the afternoon with the crew, stationed in the library and handing them out to each woman. (Men took them to their wives at home.) Women were very surprised and felt very appreciated. A picture of Kim (volunteer in orange) and Kim (the family who has been coming since the spring) to the right. It was very sweet all afternoon. Thank you, Lori, Kim, and CBC.
Forty Christmas Activity Boxes were delivered by Crossroads Bible Church this morning. Wednesday is a very social group of families, which have created a strong community typically gathering around 11:30am. We chatted with two women who speak English and Spanish, asking them to help communicate to families who arrive early. They were wonderful and loved helping. Families were excited to be offered them, and they were gone by 12:30pm. Thank you, Kristen and CBC!
Women's Gift Bags
A few stories:
Rosette cookies were brought to the crew by Sylvia, one of the Wednesday families. She made them fresh and packaged them in a very special way for us. She said she wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped her family. Please accept this thanks, as it is passed to you here.
Bertha is a Wednesday family who has essentially created a job for herself the last couple of months as Market Coordinator. She and her husband Vidal come around 1:15pm. She jumps right into the market, helping keep it stocked, organized, and clean. We actually gave her an official yellow vest to wear a few weeks ago. Vidal gets in line to get groceries and then waits in the car for the next 90 minutes, while Bertha works. She speaks a little English and is delightful to be with. Very fun.
Two Christmas cards were given to us by families yesterday. The inside of the cards is attached here. The Spanish loosely translates to “I thank God first and you for the blessing you leave and for taking me in your lives. May God bless you and your family much more. Thank you. Maria”
Thanks for another great day in ‘Groceries for Families’. The lives of these families remain very hard. We hope to see parents getting back to work one day soon, which will bring back stability. In the meantime, thank you for all you’re doing to support them.
Merry Christmas,
Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
