April 15, 2021

This week ended on a very positive note, not only with the operation but also with the lovely weather. The air felt warm, even this morning, with the chill fading quickly. By the afternoon, it was hot, even under the canopies. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it. The operation ran smoothly today. The morning was busy with people dropping off groceries, pantry & hygiene items. Thank you, everyone! The afternoon was a typical Thursday – busy, slow, busy, slow – in the end, very normal with lots of food going home with families. Nice day.

Groceries today were provided by Newport Covenant, Doxa, Lighthouse, Victory Court, Bellevue Presbyterian, Sacred Heart Parish & School, Highland Covenant, Crossroads Bible, Overlake Park Presbyterian, and First United Methodist Bellevue churches, as well as Rotary Bellevue Sunrise and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 193 orders came in and all went out to families today. Thank you to everyone who donated.

Today was the first day with the new delivery window of 10:30am-12:00pm with Medosweet for food boxes. The truck arrived at 11:30am, which was just fine. As the driver dropped the first pallet into place, the AM volunteers quickly started opening the boxes to fill them with fresh produce. The remaining volunteers quickly insulated the four other pallets with ice and blankets. By noon, everything was ready. That works!

The AM volunteers were primarily from Sacred Heart Parish, and all are now seasoned veterans for this shift. They were efficient and quick with their work today. Thank you, crew!

Chef’s Store (formerly Cash & Carry) is where we buy fresh produce each morning. We place the order on Fridays, so a pallet of food awaits us each morning at 7am. Yesterday, the delivery truck arrived at 7am, so we had to go back at 10am to get our food. Today, the truck never came. We had to take whatever we could find. No cucumbers were available, so we substituted zucchini. Fortunately, Amazon Go at Overlake had sent 14 cases of bananas yesterday, so we’re covered there. We had just enough today. The store manager said the issue is not having enough staff at the distribution center in Centralia.

A picture of the USDA food box is on the left. It comes with dairy (milk, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese), meat (chicken meatballs, chicken hotdogs, ground cooked chicken), and produce (lettuce, potatoes, apples, onions). We remove the milk to make space for purchased produce (tomatoes, bananas, garlic, cucumber, green pepper, carrots). It is very colorful once packed. Thank you to everyone who donates cash toward the GFF program; this is where some of your donations go.

El Dios Viviente Methodist Church in West Seattle and St. Monica Parish on Mercer Island came late this afternoon to take the remaining food boxes. They will be distributed to families tonight. We’re blessed to be connected to these two wonderful partners.

A few stories and updates:

Angelina brought the crew lunch today: rice, beans, beef fajita, and guacamole. Very, very tasty! Her son, Brian, delivered it this morning.

We learned more about Roberto today. He had his second leg amputated recently due to diabetes. He is home now near Crossroads. He has two roommates but no family nearby. His friend, Carmen, came to get food for him today. We don’t know many details, but he will be adjusting to a new life. Perhaps we’ll see him back here one day. Please pray for him.

Meadowsweet has been delivering food boxes each day since January. Each day has the same driver each week, so we’ve started to build relationships with these three men. They’ve learned a bit about our program and ask questions sometimes. In the map of what makes GFF happen, these three people have a place on it. They are part of this family. They matter. Today, the driver shared with us that he deals with a chronic kidney ailment that flares up with sharp pain. Today was a bad day. We had the opportunity to listen to him, which hopefully made him feel like someone cares. Please pray for him.

We witnessed two sweet instances of families helping today. At 12pm, two ladies were waiting on the picnic tables. One noticed a donor at her car struggling with groceries. So, she quickly went over and helped her carry the groceries into the building. Very nice. At 1:30pm, there was a short line. One lady noticed a pack of diapers had fallen out of a cart unnoticed. She left the line and carried the diapers to the other woman in the parking lot. Both were small bits of kindness and a joy to witness.

Shahin will return tomorrow morning to volunteer a second time. Very fun.

Thank you for another great week of ‘Groceries for Families.’ We hope your own life is being impacted by participating. It is incredible to watch the community come together to support other vulnerable members of our community.

Have a great weekend,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 55 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 56 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 55 - Day 2