April 20, 2021

Here we are at the beginning of week 56 of ‘Groceries for Families’ and enjoying summer-like weather, which has no one complaining. The rain will return, so we’ll all enjoy the warmth while it lasts. Operationally, things are humming along, with today being a very typical Tuesday. The morning was busy with happy people streaming into the parking lot to drop off groceries, pantry, and hygiene items. Thank you, everyone. Families formed a line at the beginning, which stayed steady until about 2pm. There was a brief lull before picking up again. Many families today came with multiple ID cards, as they were picking up for other families. There were many double, triple, and quad orders today filling QFC carts. Overall, it was a smooth day, with lots of food going home with people.

Groceries today were provided by Cornerstone Fellowship, Bellevue Presbyterian, Covenant Presbyterian, Creekside Covenant, Crossroads Bible, Saint Madeleine Sophie, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Christian Reformed, and East Shore Unitarian churches, as well as Bellevue Kiwanis, Rotary Bellevue Sunrise, and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 182 orders came in, and all went out to families today, along with 26 carried over from last week. Thank you to everyone who donated today!

The AM volunteers were from Highland Covenant Church today, including their senior pastor. This team has returning veterans of volunteering and first-time volunteers. It was a fun group, which did a great job receiving all the incoming deliveries and packing food boxes. Thank you, crew!

The food box delivery was coming later not and arrived at 11:15am today. The AM crew quickly wrapped four pallets in gel ice packs and insulating blankets. This effort worked, as things were nice and cold in the last pallet opened around 3pm today. The crew then quickly opened all 48 boxes on the 5th pallet and added fresh produce & eggs.

Lots of deliveries came from local grocery stores and distributors starting Saturday and continuing through today. We want to thank them and the many volunteers who bring the food to Jubilee. Rick brings food from Amazon Go Overlake. Dale & Kathy bring food from Safeway Thrasher’s Corner. Mike, Gil, and Kyle bring food from QFC Crossroads. Fred brings food from Whole Foods Bellevue and Trader Joe’s Overlake. Gil and Mike bring food & beverages from a local distributor. Most of this fills the market area daily. Thank you for your time and effort to make this happen each week.

Senior lunches were delivered to 32 people in the community today by Barb and her crew. A tasty homemade meal was prepared, with plenty of extras added in. There are three delivery routes, taken by Barb, Gina, and Theresa. Thank you, ladies!

We learned late last week the USDA Farmers to Families program, which supplies the food boxes daily, will end on May 31 nationwide. This is not a surprise but will impact the GFF operation a bit. Stay tuned for details.

A few stories and updates:

Shahin returned last Friday to volunteer a second time. She seems to have a good time and certainly enjoys having something to do, which distracts her from grieving the loss of her husband. Please continue to pray for her and her daughter.

Maria brought a large pot of Pozole today, which the crew enjoyed before going home after the shift. She will be having knee surgery soon. Please pray for her.

Eun brought a pan full of Korean potato pancakes late today, which will be lunch tomorrow for the crew. She lives nearby and walked them over in a cart, along with a bag full of bottled water.

Someone donated a large stuffed bear a few weeks ago (probably one of you!). Today, we gave it to Maraya, who has five children, including Vanessa, who has made many drawings for us, now displayed in the lobby. Hopefully, some happy children are snuggling the bear tonight.

Here’s an email from a family: “Due to COVID, I, who is a senior citizen, have been unemployed since 3/20/20 and do not know when I will be called back to work. Since January 2021, I have been a recipient of your food bank services. I wanted to extend my profound gratitude to Jubilee Reach and its partners for providing groceries and flowers, when in season, to me each week. It is so helpful to receive a gallon of milk each week, and I look forward to the candy treat for those of us who like sweets. The vegetable selection makes for a complete and very nice salad, and the fruit is always a bonus. With the meat selection, one walks away with fixings for a well-rounded, complete meal. I am sorry to hear that this project is scheduled to end on 6/30/21. In the meantime, I continue to be very grateful for this community outreach that you are providing. Thank you so much.”

We begin this week with 686 families in ‘Groceries for Families’ (3087 people). There are another 25 on the waiting list, which includes about 8 new ones from last week and others who have been invited into the program two weeks ago but have not yet returned. It is common for some waiting list families not to return. These numbers are trending downward slowly but consistently. About 6 weeks ago, we peaked at 750 families. Of the 20 families who left the program in the last week, about 10 informed us they no longer needed support, while the other 10 we removed for attendance reasons. This, too, has been consistent.

Many of you are asking about the future of ‘Groceries for Families.’ The current commitment is through June 30. We are in discussion and discernment as we watch the trends, numbers and listen to people. We would like to invite you to pray about it and join us in discernment. If you have ideas or thoughts, please do share them with us. We are in this together and welcome your input. As decisions are made, we will be communicating details to everyone.

In the meantime, thank you for the continued support of and commitment to these families through this program. Please pray for them. We want to continue to be in a relationship with them, always affirming they are valued members of this community and there are people who care about them.

Blessings to you all,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 56 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 56 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 55 - Day 3