May 5, 2021

After a slow day yesterday, today proved very busy with about 30 families more than a normal Wednesday. The weather certainly cooperated. The morning was actually quite chilly, which led to cold hands for the morning crew. By the late morning, it was pleasant, and the afternoon was very warm with light clouds. The morning parking lot was very busy, with happy people dropping off groceries, pantry, and hygiene items, along with flowers and cards. There is a definite joy found in the people coming each day. Thank you, everyone. The afternoon started with a long line and kept up a short line the entire afternoon.

Groceries today were provided by 24-Seven, Newport Covenant, St. Louise, Crossroads Bible, Bellevue Presbyterian, Calvary Chapel Eastside, Indian Fellowship, and Bellevue Christian Reformed churches, as well as the Rotary Club of Bellevue, Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 210 orders came in and all went out to families today. Thank you to everyone who donated.

The AM volunteers were from Bellevue Presbyterian Church today, as well as one visitor from Austin, TX who has been supporting and praying for this program since the beginning. They worked very hard receiving all the deliveries, including flowers and cards. Food boxes didn’t arrive until 11:45am today, so they wrapped them in ice & blankets, but left the packing for the next shift. Well done and thank you, crew.

The food boxes arrived all leaning like the Tower of Pisa. It looked like they were packed poorly or the wrap wasn’t tight enough. The bottom rows were all squished, and many of the milk inside had the spouts pushed in. It turns out there is a shortage of high-grade cardboard nationwide right now. So, Medosweet had to use a lower grade today, which just isn’t strong enough. We were able to deal with this over the course of the day. The worst part was these boxes didn’t have handles cut out. It makes it much harder to grab a 30-pound box without them. It is expected the better boxes will be back tomorrow.

A large order of 24 boxes of bananas arrived early this morning from Amazon Go Overlake. The AM crew separated them into different piles based on quality. Some went into the market (too brown), some went into food boxes (just right), and some were held for tomorrow (a little green). Thank you, Rick!

Two volunteers from Crossroads Bible Church were here today to handle passing out the flowers and cards, plus a few balloons. The sea of color was so beautiful. There were so many happy, happy women today. There were also happy men, who now had something to give their wife. Thank you to everyone who brought these special items. Thank you, Gaby & Bianca, for your service today.

A few stories and updates:

You hear about Maria regularly, as she brings lunch for the crew often on Tuesdays. She had knee surgery recently, so come today for groceries. She came with her caregiver, who went through as first in line today. We were able to talk to Maria through the car window. She is in a lot of pain but is happy to be on the healing side of surgery. She plans to bring lunch next week. Both she and her caregiver received beautiful bouquets and cards. Please pray for them.

Samira was profiled in this email last week. She came late today to bring the crew a special Ethiopian dessert called ‘basbousa’. It tastes like light cornbread with sweet syrup on the bottom. She said she wants to say thank you for all the support her family is receiving both at Jubilee and with the Jubilee coach at Ardmore Elementary. This thank you is for all of you, too.

A picture of Trenton is on the right, being silly today with a young girl. He has befriended her and her cousin over the last many weeks. She was chattering on about their matching hair bows, although she has lost hers. Trenton playfully asked if he could try on her sparkly coat. She was stunned when he did. You can see the mom filming it and just loving every moment. It was a lovely light moment of being silly, right before we opened.

Last week on Wednesday, we shared how Jose took five extra food boxes to the kitchen crew as his Sammamish restaurant. He reported today; they were extremely thankful. With extra boxes from yesterday, we gave him more today. Knowing what impact it made, Jose was very excited to take the more. Love that.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Thank you for another great day of ‘Groceries for Families’. So many of you are supporting this program in so many ways, many of them unseen and anonymous. Wherever you are plugged in, thank you for your continued dedication and commitment to helping these families.

Blessings to you all,

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

Groceries for Families: Week 58 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 58 - Day 3

Groceries for Families: Week 58 - Day 1