Groceries for Families: Week 39 - Day 3
December 23, 2020
Today started with the scraping of a windshield, and the cold never really let go of the day. Despite the cold, the sky was clean and the sun added some warmth if you could find it. Two days removed from heavy rain and damaging wet snow, today felt just great. The many shoppers braved the cold this morning to bring many bags of groceries and an abundance of pantry items. Thank you all so much! Families were slow to arrive today. The line was modest at the start and got really short by 1:45pm. Yet by 2:15pm the line built back up and stayed steady until 3:10pm. In the end, it was a solid day of attendance. We were wondering if the holiday would pull people away, which it certainly did, but not in great numbers. It was a wonderful day for ending the holiday week.
Jubilee Friends Delivery
Groceries today came from St. Louise, Newport Covenant, Calvary Chapel Eastside, Indian Fellowship, Crossroads Bible, 24-Seven, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Victory Court and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as Rotary Club of Bellevue, Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 250 orders came in today and all but 34 went out to families today. Thank you for the extra orders. They will carry over to Monday. Thank you to everyone who donated today!
Jubilee Friends had a record number of orders today, 42! We used to get 3-6 orders daily, but that has really changed in the last month. Today’s group included the Bellevue Fire Department, rolling in with three vehicles. If you have anyone not connected with a participating church or organization, you can provide them this sign up website: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0b49a5aa2ba3fd0-jubilee.
Today’s AM Crew
Food boxes arrived by 7:30am this morning. The cold weather was a blessing to keep them cold all morning.
The AM volunteers came from Bellevue Presbyterian today, with a few ringers thrown in to help.
Two families participated, which was great to get children involved. They all worked very hard processing the inflow of groceries, packing in the pantry items, and building the food boxes. Thank you crew!
Patio Heater
Four patio heaters were recently donated by a family and went into use yesterday. Wow, just in time for the cold! They are a game changer for these cold days, both for staff and families alike. We now have heat at 1) check-in, 2) soap & oil station, 3) grocery pick-up and 4) food box prep. These are the four areas where people often stand for a length of time. Thank you, sweet donors, for keeping us warm!
Crossroads Bible Church has been donating 50# bags of rice and beans each week in November and December, which volunteers portion out into quart size ziplock bags. Today’s delivery by the CBC crew will carry us over the next two weeks. Thank you CBC for this wonderful gift!
CBC Rice & Beans
A few stories:
Emil has been mentioned in this email summary before. He comes each Tuesday for groceries but often comes at other times to offer his assistance. He is very friendly, works very hard, and has added a lot to this program. He is from Romania originally, so has shared with us things about his country, the local Romanian culture here, and his own history to get to Bellevue. Yesterday, he came early to help and ended up working with the crew to pack food boxes. When the PM crew came together for the normal orientation at 12:50pm, Emil was there. When we stopped to pray, we asked him to lead us. He was hesitant at first but warmed up to it. He led us in a very heartfelt and personal prayer. Today, he returned to help around 4:00pm. We commented on how meaningful his prayer was yesterday and he was quite shy in saying he wanted it to be special. It was very sweet and so nice to be led by one of the families.
Bertha has been mentioned a few times in this email summary before, too. She comes on Wednesdays with her husband, Vidal, for groceries. While Vidal waits in line, Bertha helps us in the market. For the past month, she has been wearing a yellow vest, which the staff wears. Today, she was in uniform by 12:30pm and already working. When the crew gathered for orientation, she was there. Like Emil, we asked Bertha to pray for us in Spanish. She doesn’t speak English. She was very hesitant but soon started. For those of us who don’t speak Spanish, the prayer was nonetheless very meaningful. She was very proud when she finished. Again, it was sweet and wonderful to be led by one of the families in this way.
Someone dropped off fresh tamales for the crew’s lunch. After the shift, they were gone! No idea who it was but they sure can cook. As you’ve read many times, it is common for families to say thank you through food. We receive it all with gratitude and love.
Today’s PM Crew
There has been a lot of emotion shared during the past two weeks between staff and families. The holiday season has brought out a flood of gifts, cards, food, comments, hugs, and joy from the families. It was been wonderful to receive and share it together. For some of the families, there is a very personal bond that has been built with some of the crew. We love many of them as dear friends. Some have been with us since March. This Christmas season has brought it out even stronger, and it is wonderful.
Jubilee REACH will be closed until Monday. Families will be here Mon, Tue, and Wed next week.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
