March 10, 2021

Today was very close to a spring-like day. The chill in the air never quite let go, although plenty of people were in short sleeves. But the sun was out and the fog burned away early. It brightened the whole day; likely for you too, if you are in this area. The morning benefited from the warming sun with many people dropping off groceries, pantry, and hygiene items. Thank you to everyone! Today’s afternoon operation was very busy from start to finish…including overtime. While yesterday seemed slow, today had a line that never ended. The last family left at 3:45pm, which is only the 2nd time we’ve gone well past the 3:30pm closing time. The difference today was many families came as singles, rather than picking up for multiple families. This made for more people here, more food exchanges, and a much busier parking lot. A lot of food went home with people today. Great day!

Groceries today were provided by the Rotary Club of Bellevue, Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, and the Jubilee Friends group, as well as Bellevue Presbyterian, Newport Covenant, Crossroads Bible, Calvary Chapel Eastside, St. Louise, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Indian Fellowship, and 24-Seven churches. A total of 259 grocery orders came in today and all went out to families today. Wow…busy! Thank you to everyone who donated today.

The AM volunteers were from Bellevue Presbyterian church today. This group managed the constant inflow of groceries & other deliveries, sorting them all well. They also packed 120 food boxes to get the afternoon started well. Thank you, crew!

Ashley covered for Denisse today, who is out on vacation. This position runs the “Point” for the operation, checking families in and getting them into the food operation. For having rarely done this important job, she was thrown into one of the busiest days ever. She did it with a smile and a steady calmness. Well done and thank you, Ashley!

In this email, we’ve reported that both the Grocery Outlet Bridle Trails and Crossroads will give one order of GFF groceries free for every 5 purchased. As an update, both stores now will keep track of purchases, so all five do not need to be bought at the same time. They’ll keep track. When 5 are purchased, then the 6th is free. You can call the store in advance and tell them when you want to come to pick up the order. They will pack the order and have it ready to go. In and out quickly. Shoppers are reporting very good service from both stores. Take advantage of it, if you like.

The insulation cube described here yesterday was tested for the first time today. We opened the first box from this pallet at 3:15pm, and everything was very cold, including the chicken still frozen. Wow! We’re going to try another prototype tomorrow. Hopefully, soon we’ll have a new process for keeping food boxes cold as the outside temperatures warm up. Please donate gel ice packs, if you have any. Thank you, Jeff, for your designs.

A few stories:

As we were doing the opening orientation for the PM crew at 12:50pm, walking down the main operational pathway came to young 5-year-old Alexa carrying a very large poster for such a little child. We’ve gotten to know Alexa and her mom, Georgina, over the many months of GFF. Alexa is tiny and seems shy, yet is quite spunky. She’s brought thank you cards in the past, which hang in the lobby. Today she brought a very large thank you poster, which she worked many hours on creating, according to mom. As she came into the lobby, she was treated like a queen by the entire crew. She was beaming. We found a prominent spot on the wall for the poster, and she stood on the table with Sterling to hang it with tape. She is the perfect image of cute and sweet. Look at the poster carefully. It is written to all of you.

A woman named Carmen often comes late for groceries on Wednesdays. She has 3 people in her family and is a little shy while here. Today, she seemed more curious about the full operation so was asking questions about where everything comes from, the food, and other items. Because it was 4pm, we were able to give a longer answer, explaining in detail where each part comes from a food box, grocery bag, pantry items, etc. She was stunned. She had no idea. She said the high quality and variety of the food & items she receives each week always surprised her. Now she knows it is brought by people in the community who care about her. Truly, she struggled to comprehend what she had just learned. It was great. We don’t know much about her. Please pray for her. Life clearly isn’t easy for their family.
Michelle used to be in this program in the spring and early summer, including us delivering to her through the summer. But she hasn’t been with us as she no longer needing the help. She is a single mom, with 7 kids. She sent an email today, asking about donating children’s clothes, as a way to repay the help she received. Here’s a section of the email, where she shared a bit more.

“God has been helping me out through this whole shut down. I was able to move to a place suitable for a large family without everyone being on top of one another and I have a job at Seattle Children’s Hospital now. I would prefer to work days (but can’t at the moment kids being home not at school) but I can complain even though it's a challenge working nights with kids home all day. God never gives you anything you cant handle. I prayed so hard for a suitable home and a job and all these things recently have worked themselves out and I'm so grateful for the help jubilee has given to my family “

Thanks for a great day. The food, pantry, and hygiene items you provided, which went out today, are now in the homes of the GFF families. That is a good feeling. May it warm your heart, also.

Blessings to you all,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 50 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 50 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 50 - Day 1