The first day of week 19 of Version 2 of ‘Groceries for Families’ (week 41 since the very beginning in March) started off with a great day. The weather this morning was dry and a mild temperature. The rain started at about 11:30am and persisted most of the afternoon. With the rain came the feeling of colder temperatures, so the late afternoon felt cold. Donations streamed in all morning with groceries and pantry items coming from very happy people. It’s fun to see friends meet each other in the Jubilee parking lot and spend a long time catching up. Families lined up all the way across the line at opening time. There was a short lull about 2:15pm, but the line soon returned and kept coming until about 3:30pm. The operation ran very smoothly, which is always nice on a busy day.

Groceries today were provided by Evangelical Chinese, Covenant Presbyterian, Westminster Chapel, Creekside Covenant, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Cornerstone Fellowship and East Shore Unitarian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 216 orders were delivered today, well above the expected 177 orders. Thank you for the extras! It’s a good thing too, as all of the 216 but two went out to families today. It was busy! Thank you to everyone who donated today.

With no USDA food boxes and no King County produce available, we started a new operation today. Fresh eggs were purchased from Costco, with a large delivery coming early this morning for all three days. Fresh produce will be purchased daily from Smart Food Service (bananas, tomatoes, lettuce, green pepper, cucumber, carrots, onions). Milk was brought by donors last Wednesday, yesterday, and today. Thank you! Meat has been held in the Jubilee freezers, anticipating this day. Volunteers and crew packed plastic grocery bags with all the produce and eggs. Families were given the choice of beef, pork, or chicken. (so great to give them a choice) Each family was offered 1 gallon of milk. The whole operation worked very well. We even saved potatoes from last week’s food boxes, so they were available in the market. Day 1 was a total success!

Volunteers brought food from the Safeway Thrasher’s Corner in Bothell. Volunteers brought food from QFC Crossroads. We also received food from 3 food banks, which had extra food, including the Stanwood food bank. The market was plenty full with a wide variety, including an assortment of non-perishable goods. Thank you, everyone!

You may recall the great story of one Jubilee reach-in refrigerator being replaced by donors in November. Well, the 2nd reach-in refrigerator died in early December. One of the involved churches stepped in to purchase the replacement. We thought it would be delivered last Thursday. Then we thought it would come yesterday. It finally arrived at 8:15am this morning. By 10:00am, it was full of milk. Along with the borrowed reach-in from the Bellevue School District, we now have 3 smooth running machines. The timing could not have been better with all the milk coming. Thank you, ECC!

A king cake was brought by Maria and Hilda today. If you don’t know what a king cake is, look it up. These two friends are a cherished part of the GFF. We adore them and appreciate the love they return through cooking. Additionally, Maria brought lunch for the crew, a tasty pasta dish. We will enjoy it tomorrow. She is a great cook and usually uses ingredients she gets from Jubilee.

There is already an update on the USDA Farmers to Families program:

Round 5 was approved today and will have $1.5 billion invested, which is triple round 4. You can read about it in today’s Seattle Times. Vendors are now bidding for the contracts, with the closing being January 19. After contracts are awarded, it will take 2-3 weeks for supply chains to fill. The winner of round 4 in King County, Cascadia Produce, has already submitted their bid. We have already submitted a request to them for 250 food boxes each Tue, Wed, and Thu morning. It would be ideal if Cascadia won it again, as we already have a relationship with them. If they do not, we will quickly reach out to the winner to get in their system.

This means we will be without food boxes at least until February 2 and perhaps February 9. We will be using funds to purchase fresh produce and eggs, as well as stored frozen meat. We will be relying upon donors, like you, to please bring milk each week. Thank you for the extra help during this coming month.

We begin this week with 706 families in the ‘Groceries for Families’ program. This is down from 712 last week, with 6 families being removed. Another 49 families are on the waiting list, including 5 more added today. We are discussing the possibility of bringing families from the waiting list into the program beginning next Tuesday.

Thank you for your continued dedication to this program. The need continues in our community. Together, we are supporting around 3,500 people who need it most during this tough time. It is often said there is a level playing field for everyone because of the virus. This is not true. For most of us, the virus has been an inconvenience…at most. For these families, their lives have been shattered in many ways. Jobs have been lost. Money is gone. Anxiety and fear are constant. The future is unknown. Food is scarce. The playing field is not level. People have been impacted very differently. Thank you for loving these people by providing them with food, hygiene items, pantry items, care, prayer, and more. While they may not know you, they are very aware someone is helping them, and it matters. It is working! Keep going.

Happy New Year!

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

Groceries for Families: Week 41 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 41 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 40 - Day 3