February 4, 2021

This entry often starts off with the weather. Some jokers have said they don’t know what the weather was unless they read the email. Funny. You’re welcome. Truly, sometimes it is hard to remember what the weather was on a certain day. Today seems to have been quite uneventful, although the wind picked up late. Now you know. Operationally, today was smooth and normal. Happy people were dropping off groceries, pantry, and hygiene items all morning long. Thank you everyone! Families were slow to arrive but kept a steady line all afternoon. There was a late rush, with quite a few people being added to the waiting list.

Groceries today were provided by Sacred Heart Parish & School, Doxa, Highland Covenant, Crossroads Bible, Bellevue Presbyterian, Lighthouse, and Overlake Park Presbyterian churches, as well as Rotary Bellevue Sunrise and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 184 orders were delivered today and all went out to families, along with another 37 orders carried over from yesterday. Thank you to everyone who donated!

Food boxes arrived at 9:00am today, which is later than the first five days of the new program with them. With the slightly warmer temperatures outside, we asked for a later delivery time to keep the perishables colder longer. We don’t actually open the boxes until as late as possible in the morning, so everything stays incubated. It seems to be working fine. As spring comes, we’ll have to have a better plan.

We will host an extra market tomorrow afternoon to offer families non-perishables and other items here. It is a chance for a slower pace and smaller crowd, so families can better choose.

Normally about 75 families come in a two hour period. Volunteers this morning spent two hours sorting non-perishables and getting boxes ready to take out to the market.

The afternoon volunteers reset the outside area for the market. It will be a chance for families to stock their pantry a bit. We’ve also invited the group of senior citizens who previously came to a senior market we had weekly in Nov & Dec. Hopefully, some of them will come too.

A distant picture is to the right, a family walking home from Jubilee REACH today carrying their groceries. There are quite a few families who live within walking distance. Often the QFC carts go with them and come back later, which is fine. Many other people take the bus, which has its own challenges for scheduling and carrying. Lots of people drive, of course. But many families share the effort to come to get groceries by taking turns weekly. While one family watches children, one or more come to Jubilee. It is a wonderful solution that helps multiple families.

A few difficult real-life stories to share:

First in line on Thursdays is a woman named Carmen. She speaks only a little English and is delightful to be with. Today, she was in line pushing her QFC cart and talking on the phone, which is a little odd. Suddenly, she erupted with emotion and anguish, shouting at the phone, “no, no, no…” She was inconsolable. All we could do was put an arm around her and help her to the car. The woman behind explained that the call was from someone in her home country of Ecuador, and a family member had just died of Covid. Very sad.
The woman who translated for Carmen shared she had 5 members of her mother’s family in Mexico die of Covid in January. Their family is devastated. She cannot go visit.
You have heard about a man named Erwin from time to time in this email. He worked for a restaurant in downtown Bellevue and has gone through periods of some employment and no employment over the past 10 months. When he is working, he comes late on Thursday to get groceries. Today, he came at 5pm. He has just gone back to work this week and is getting 3 shifts per week. When asked how his family is doing, he first said fine but then came closer to share more. His wife has had a cough for six months, which just won’t go away. In mid-January, it got so bad that he took her to the emergency at Overlake. They couldn’t find anything. Three days later, he took her to Harborview emergency. They ran tests but found nothing. She will go see a specialist at Harborview next Tuesday. He asked for prayers as they go through this period of unknown.
There is a man named Roberto who comes for groceries on Thursday. He’s been with us since nearly the beginning and was profiled in this email over last summer. He had one leg amputated because of diabetes, so faces lots of challenges just getting around. He used a wheelchair in the summer but now wears a prosthesis, which doesn’t seem to fit well. We learned a few weeks ago diabetes has worsened and is threatening to take his second leg. The doctors have already removed half of his other foot. He is at Providence Hospital in Everett and is struggling emotionally with how this will impact his life, according to his neighbor who is keeping us informed. Please pray for him. He is a very nice man and has no one as a family here.

Along with Covid, life goes on. These are just a few things we know about which are impacting the lives of families in this program.

Thank you for your prayers. When anyone shares such stores, we tell them people are praying for them. It helps, so thank you.

This week has been great. It starts and ends on a very strong note. Thank you for all your time, energy, and treasure which sustain ‘Groceries for Families’. Hopefully, you feel equally blessed through your participation. It is mission work. You don’t have to leave the country to be a missionary. You are needed right here in this community. Please keep going. It is working.

May you find a way to be with someone you love tonight,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 45 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 46 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 45 - Day 2