March 18, 2021

We end this week on a very strong note, with a busy day and plenty of joy. The weather held, with the expected morning rain not coming until late in the afternoon. The morning was very pleasant, with bits of sunshine sprinkled in. The wind picked up in the afternoon, which dropped the temperature, but the rain calmed the wind soon after. The morning had a steady stream of happy people dropping off all sorts of groceries, pantry, and hygiene items. Thank you, everyone! The afternoon had a modest line to start and a steady pace of families all afternoon. It was the busiest day of the week, and lots of food & pantry goods went home with people today. Awesome!

Groceries today were provided by Highland Covenant, Victory Court, Sacred Heart Parish & School, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Doxa, First United Methodist, Overlake Park Presbyterian and Lighthouse churches, as well as the Rotary Bellevue Sunrise, Champions Foundation and Jubilee Friends group. A total of 196 orders came in today and all went out to families, along with 31 carried over from yesterday. Thank you to everyone who donated.

The AM volunteers were from Sacred Heart Parish today. The strong group of nine worked hard all morning processing incoming groceries and packing food boxes. Well done! Thank you, crew!

The insulation blankets continue to do their job. A picture is to the left, volunteers unwrapping a pallet, so boxes can have fresh produce added. Thank you for all the donated gel packs. More are needed, so feel free to donate any extras you have lying around. They are working wonderfully!

At the end of each day, volunteers work from 3:30-5:00pm to clean and reset the entire operational space. The final touch is to use a power blower to clean the grounds, which makes it look great. On Thursday, the entire area gets torn down outside. Thank you, volunteers!

El Dios Viviente Church in West Seattle and St. Monica Catholic Church on Mercer Island came late this afternoon to take all remaining food boxes. They will be distributed to other people in need. We are blessed to be in partnership with both of these churches. They are meeting the need in many ways.

A few updates and stories:

A man came today for groceries, Yehia, who is a regular every Thursday. He seemed a bit out of sorts, and when asked a basic question, he struggled to respond fully. He then shared he is completely distracted, so not fully present. He learned today his mother has some bleeding in her stomach, so is suddenly hospitalized. His father is frantic with worry. They live in Alexandria, Egypt. He is very worried and is considering whether he needs to fly there this weekend. It would be a huge expense and interruption to his own family (wife and two sons). As the only son, he feels especially responsible for caring for them. We’ll see if he returns next week or not. Please pray for them. This is another example of real-life continuing, despite the pandemic.

Erwin returned this evening for groceries, coming after work. He is getting some shifts at a restaurant in downtown Bellevue. His wife is still dealing with a nagging cough and now is suffering from intense back pain. They were up 2 hours last night, as she fought it. They will return to Harborview for their next specialist appointment in the coming weeks. For now, they can only take one day at a time. He’s a very nice man, who is working hard to care for his family. Please pray for them.

Shahin is continuing to grieve the loss of her husband and is staying close to people at Jubilee. She goes through stages of anger, which seem normal. We are working to get her help with her car, which is a ’94 Chevy Tracker and needing some TLC. She texted, “Thank you so much for Jubilee. You are all my best friends. I feel safe and calm there.” Please pray for her. If you want to bring a card of encouragement, please do. She needs to know people care.

We end this week in a very positive place. Attendance for ‘Groceries for Families’ is stable. The waiting list is growing slowly. There are signs people are getting back to work very slowly. Thank you for all you are doing with your time, treasure, and prayers. Please keep going.

Have a great weekend,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 51 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 52 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 51 - Day 2