April 14, 2021

Wednesday has become the busy day of the week, and today was no exception. The weather continued to be simply lovely, with a cool morning which quickly warmed up to a delightful afternoon. Many people were in summer-like clothing. Lots and lots of people came to Jubilee this morning, dropping off groceries, pantry, and hygiene items. Thank you, everyone! The families kept a steady line all afternoon, with quite a few people needing to come after hours. It felt calm to the crew, almost slow, but in the end, nearly all of the 240 food boxes were gone. Great day!

Groceries today were provided by Calvary Chapel Eastside, St. Louise, Indian Fellowship, Crossroads Bible, 24-Seven, Bellevue Christian Reformed and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Rotary Club of Bellevue, the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 229 orders came in, and all went out to families today, along with a few carried over from yesterday. Thank you to everyone who donated today!

The AM volunteers came primarily from Bellevue Presbyterian Church today. This group worked hard to keep things moving all morning. They received and processed all the incoming deliveries, as well as packed 50 food boxes with fresh produce. Well done, crew!

Like yesterday, we wrapped the five pallets of food boxes with ice packs and insulating blankets immediately upon delivery. With the warmer temperature outside, we are very attentive to keeping the food cold. The first pallet wasn’t unwrapped until 11:30am. The crew didn’t unwrap the second pallet until 1:00pm, when we opened. This system is working. Then they unwrapped the 5th pallet at 3pm, and all the food was plenty cold still.

A 3rd grade class at Bellevue Christian School did a drive for the GFF program. The teacher dropped off a carload this afternoon. Along with all the items, she also brought many sweet notes and colored drawings from the children. They will be given to families tomorrow. Thank you, class!

Volunteers made two deliveries from a local distributor, one late yesterday and one today. Sandwiches and snacks came in yesterday, which is very popular with families. Crates of soda came in today, which is a popular treat for families. Thank you, Gil & Mike.

Renewal Food Bank brought a nice load of loaves of bread and bakery items this afternoon. They often share what they have as extra on Wednesday afternoons. Thank you, Susie!

A few updates and stories:

Lunch was brought today by two new ladies, Carmen and Angelica. Carmen is from Peru and brought champurrado, a thick hot chocolate drink with cinnamon, almond, and vanilla. Very tasty! Angelica is from Mexico and brought pork empanadas with hot sauce and coleslaw. It was lovely to have two new people express their thanks and love through cooking.

One of the bigger complaints we get is from people who save their place in line with a bag, only to have it moved back in the line by another person. Families are allowed to hold a place once cones are out, which is about 10am. We have chosen not to police this actively, as it is much too difficult. The issue comes when one person wants to insert a friend into the line. It isn’t very nice, but it happens a lot. Today, a woman came to complain that she had put her bag down on the 2nd cone, only to have a man move her bag to the 3rd cone. Evidently, he’s done it before, and she was mad. After listening to her and acknowledging her feelings, it was a great conversation about the bigger picture of this program. Families know very little about how complex the program really is. We talked about how people are people and how hard it is to oversee everything. We also talked about how little it matters to be 2nd or 3rd in line. We shared some of the struggles within the program and how we have learned to overlook some of them simply in the name of wanting to love people first instead of policing them. In the end, she was laughing and had a much, much wider understanding of what happens here. She was still irritated (& right to be so) but agreed it was best to let it go & not dwell on being wronged by someone else. It was a great conversation and one which would be nice to have with every family, honestly.

One thing not mentioned in this email often is the number of small children in tow with their mothers. There are plenty. Today and yesterday, there were an excessive amount of crying and even screaming children. For sure, it can’t be easy for children to be here. Last summer, we gave toys to children to help them see it as a positive place, but the operation is much larger now, so that isn’t done. Still, it is a reality we deal with daily.

Today, one mom asked if she could move to the front of the long line because she had a sleeping 18-month-old in the car, which wasn’t too far away. We wouldn’t allow the line jumping but offered to put a staff member in her car to watch her child. She happily agreed. She could see the yellow-vested staff person, and hand signals relayed everything was fine. After about 15 minutes, she made it to the front, and the child still slept. Then, the adjacent car set off the alarm, which woke the child. Bummer. The mom was quickly back to the car. It was great to see that this mother trusted us enough to babysitter her most precious thing at a higher level. It wasn’t much, but it speaks to the relationship built over many months.

Thanks for another great day in the ‘Groceries for Families’ program. Move families have come yesterday and today off the waiting list. It’s great to see the ‘new person’ stickers on their jacket. Thanks for all you are doing to support these sweet members of our community.

Blessings to you all on this warm, spring evening,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 55 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 55 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 55 - Day 1