May 11, 2021

We begin week 59 of ‘Groceries for Families’ on a very good note, with lovely weather and a humming operation. The morning was chilly, which led to cold hands. The sun pushed the cold out by noon, and the afternoon was simply great. There were lots of people all day in shorts and t-shirts. The morning was busy, especially early, with happy people dropping off groceries, pantry, and hygiene items. By 9am, nearly half the groceries had been delivered. By 11am, most of them were in. That is unusual. Families kept a steady pace up much of the afternoon, and numbers were very normal in the end, unlike last Tuesday which was missing about 50 families. Great day!

Groceries were provided by Cornerstone Fellowship, Saint Madeleine Sophie, Westminster Chapel, East Shore Unitarian, Crossroads Bible, Covenant Presbyterian, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Creekside Covenant, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as Bellevue Kiwanis and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 191 orders came in today and all went out to families. Thank you to everyone who donated today.

The AM crew was primarily from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, and all returning veterans to this shift. They made it look easy, with all the activity around the area. They didn’t get to pack any food boxes, as they arrived late at 12:10pm. So the next crew quickly iced and wrapped four pallets and packed the last pallet with fresh produce. Well done, crew!

The week always starts off with a swell of food from local grocery stores and distributors, brought to Jubilee by volunteers. Thanks to all: Rick from Amazon Go; Kathy & Dale from Safeway Thrasher’s Corner; Mike, Gil & Kyle from QFC Crossroads; Fred from Whole Foods Bellevue; Gil & Mike from a Local Distributor; Fred from Trader Joe’s Overlake. This food makes up the balance of the daily market area.

Senior lunches were delivered today by Barb, Theresa, and Linda. They went out to 32 individuals in the community and included a very tasty homemade egg salad sandwich recipe. There is a lot of love and care which goes into these meals each week. Thank you, crew!

A few stories and updates:

Shahin was at Jubilee yesterday to volunteer in the morning. She seems to find it very helpful in her healing. A family friend surprised her this week with a car (2007 Camry) to replace her quickly aging car. She said the stress she used to feel just expecting something with her car to go wrong, is now gone. That is as much a gift as the vehicle.

Tanya is a woman in the program who was profiled a few weeks ago in this email. She lives with her Grandma nearby and a few other elderly folks in a home. She was gone last week, which is very unusual. When we chatted with her to welcome her back, she shared that her Grandma died two weeks ago (92 years old). She is sad but said she was doing fine. Please pray for her. Her life will be transitioning now.

Near the front of the line, each Tuesday is a mother and 9-year-old daughter. They were profiled in this email a few weeks ago because they had commented how great it is to see the crew pray before opening each day. Today, the daughter brought an envelope and was very excited to give it to us. Inside was the attached thank you note. So sweet! Their family is originally from Romania.

We noticed a young man going through the line today, whom we didn’t recognize. Saying hello, his name is Riccardo, and he is a 19 year old senior at Redmond High School. Their family arrived from Honduras two years ago. He spoke no English then but now easily carries a conversation. He took advantage of an ELL class at school. We told him about the ELL classes at Jubilee for his mom next fall. He was excited to hear about it and will see about signing her up. We’ve heard stories from families of the horrific place Honduras is right now. It simply isn’t safe.

We begin this week with 669 families in ‘Groceries for Families’ and 23 on the waiting list. The slight downward trend is continuing, which is both from families telling us they no longer need the support and us removing some families for attendance reasons. Since September 1, 2020, there have been 211 families have departed the program. We’ve balanced the numbers between 700-750 most of the last nine months.

Thank you for your continued prayers for this program and these families. Please pray for those you don’t hear about in this email, too. Thank you for the continued support with your time, treasure, and energy.

Enjoy the warmth of the evening, wherever this email finds you tonight.

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

Groceries for Families: Week 59 - Day 1

Groceries for Families: Week 59 - Day 2

Groceries for Families: Week 58 - Day 3