Groceries for Families: Week 51 - Day 1
March 16, 2021
With 52 weeks in a year, this is the beginning of week 51 for ‘Groceries for Families’. It’s so hard to believe. Wow! Soon, you’ll be hearing of a way we’re looking to commemorate the one-year mark with you all. Today was a lovely spring-like day, although the temperature in the shadow of the building kept the temperature in the operation area cool. Still, it was great to see the sun. The morning was bustling with cars in and out of the parking lot, bringing groceries, pantry, and hygiene items. Thank you, everyone! The afternoon with families was slower than past Tuesdays but steady. It certainly seems like some Tuesday families now come on other days, as it used to be the busiest day of the week. Life is complicated, so people have to adjust. We will adjust with them.
Cornerstone Delivery
Groceries today were provided by Crossroads Bible, Westminster Chapel, Cornerstone Fellowship, Awakening, Bellevue Presbyterian, St. Madeleine Sophie, Creekside Covenant, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Covenant Presbyterian, and East Shore Unitarian. A total of 186 orders came in today and all went out to families, along with 13 carried over from last week. Thank you to everyone who donated today. Great day!
East Shore Unitarian Delivery
As with each week, an army of volunteers brings extra food early in the week which supply the bulk of the inventory for the market each day. We want to acknowledge their effort here. Volunteers brought food from the Safeway Thrashers Corner. Volunteers brought food from QFC Crossroads. Volunteers brought food from Amazon Go Overlake. Volunteers brought food from Whole Foods Bellevue. Volunteers brought food from Trader Joe’s Overlake. Volunteers brought food from a local distributor. Thank you, everyone!
Today’s AM Crew
The AM volunteers were from Westminster Chapel today, with many first-time volunteers. They worked very hard on a busy morning to receive all the incoming donations and pack 120 food boxes. Thank you, crew!
Senior Lunches
We received a donation of feminine hygiene personal packs from Seattle T2P2 this weekend. These zip-lock type bags were full of products for an individual woman. All were offered to women today and were very popular. Thank you, Amanda and Seattle T2P2!
Senior lunches went out today to 32 people in the community: meatloaf (Barb’s personal recipe), mashed potatoes, corn, and lots of goodies. Gina, Theresa, and Barb delivered them all in three different routes around the city. Thank you, ladies!
Wrapped Food Boxes
Starting today, all the food boxes on pallets will be wrapped with moving blankets as soon as they are delivered, as insulation to keep the cold items cold. Additionally, the donated ice gel packs are placed all over the top and in all the spaces. Today, the food boxes arrived late, so three pallets were wrapped. When the last pallet was unwrapped 4 hours later, everything was wonderfully cold. Now, we hope that stays true as temperatures rise this spring. Thank you, Jeff and Gayle!
A few updates:
We continue to walk alongside Shahin, now three weeks after her husband died of brain cancer. She has good and bad days. She knows she needs to grieve. She’s working to contact Social Security, but the availability of appointments is very small. She brought her wedding book last week and laughed as she shared. Please pray for her and their daughter.
David had his third interview with Microsoft yesterday. If he continues, next comes the technical interview. He is hopeful to have that next opportunity. Please pray for their family through this process.
Rose is now a month into her new job at Home Depot and just this week picked up a 3rd shift. She will actually come for groceries early tomorrow because she is working the next three afternoons, so can’t come during the normal time. As people get back to full-time employment, we expect them to be able to support themselves more.
Today’s PM Crew
We begin this week with 733 families in ‘Groceries for Families’, with another 35 on the waiting list. We’re seeing more and more people switching days to come to get groceries, as life gets busy for them. We are certainly understanding, knowing it is difficult to open up the same afternoon each week. There are some families dealing with other things which keep them from coming at all. We’re trying to help and encourage them. Please pray for all these families. Life remains hard. Hopefully, the sunshine on days like today helps.
Thank you for the continued support and dedication to this program and these families. It matters, and it is working.
Enjoy the late sunset tonight,
Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family
