GROCERIES FOR FAMILIES

Supporting families affected by the pandemic with food, hygiene items, and other necessities

Jubilee REACH Communications 9/16/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 9/16/20

Groceries for Families: Week 26 - Day 2

Happy Wednesday! Yesterday, I kept receiving email notifications that more people signed up to volunteer with us. I feel so thankful to those who took that step and signed up. It means a lot and is such a huge part of Groceries for Families running smoothly, so thank you times a million.

While yesterday seemed a bit chaotic and busy, today our staff and volunteers felt the quiet peace and calmness of the Lord. I’m not sure if that is due to being tired or if we found a system that was the most efficient; either way, I would have to say today was a big win for us!

The morning crew worked hard and set our afternoon crew up for success. They carefully looked at all the bags that were delivered, sorted through one box to prepare it for the PM shift, and did it all with such kindness and attentiveness. I feel very grateful to call them my coworkers.

Then, as 12:00 PM came around, families began lining up for our opening an hour later and the PM crew joined us as we all continued getting ready for the afternoon.

Many of them wore some masks that have an extra layer of protection since we were going in and out of the building. Once again, we appreciate all the prayers for our safety and health while we continue to work even with non-ideal air quality conditions.

Groceries were delivered by BCRC, 24-Seven, BelPres, Crossroads Bible, Sacred Heart Presbyterian, Newport Covenant, Jubilee Friends, and the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary.

Thank you for being a part of our program and donating the bags- it’s such a simple way of showing God’s love to families in this time of need. Each day a smile comes to my face as I reconnect with long time and first-time donors.

It’s also been very exciting to hear stories from new donors of how they heard about Groceries for Families. I love seeing how excited they are to be helping those in need. So, to all donors- old and new, thank you again!

As I wrap up my day at the center and go home to continue responding to emails, I sigh knowing how heavy things feel at this time.

There is so much hurt, need, brokenness, and loss in the world today than when I focus too much on it, I become overwhelmed with grief. But as I sit here typing this entry, I look out the window to see all the people we are serving through Groceries for Families. I don’t see loss, frustration, anger, or hurt- but rather

I see hope, community, love, and service. I see God’s people doing what we are called to do- to see, love, serve, and come alongside those in need. It’s such a beautiful picture to witness.

So my friends, when the world seems a bit overwhelming, may God provide you a glimpse of what He is up to- the good, the growth, the love, and the hope- may you see it all.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening. I have a feeling that tomorrow will go even better than today. Thank you for your prayers, kind words, and support.

Blessings,

Erika Dull
Jubilee REACH Managing Site Coach

Jubilee REACH Communications 9/15/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 9/15/20

Groceries for Families: Week 26 - Day 1

We are officially on week 3 of Groceries for Families 1.5 and while the smoke outside is evident, our team continued to safely provide for families today. Our team wants to say a huge thank you to all of you who have been praying for our safety as we continue to work with bad air quality. We felt very cared for and supported. We invite you to join us as we continue to pray for those impacted by the fires in our state and nation

As we continue moving forward with supporting our communities, we ask you to continue supporting us through prayer, grocery bags, and in-person support. We need extra volunteers this week as we begin our transition to the official Groceries for Families 2.0. While our team does a fantastic job providing much of the work, we have many volunteers who have done an incredible job with much of the behind the scenes load. We are very grateful for them and would love to invite you and others to join our volunteer team. If you or someone you know is interested, please sign up on the link below:

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/60b094daeaf2fa6fc1-volunteer

Now, let’s chat about today. It was a wonderful day filled with lots of donations and food.

Our team was busy from the moment they arrived to when we asked them to pack up for the day.

We received donations from QFC, some fresh garden vegetables, and 7 boxes (2 which were given to Pastor Geraldo this morning) that we handed out to families today.

The afternoon was also busy, and a little mist helped clear some of the air.

Pastor Trenton was able to join our afternoon team as well; we are so grateful for his time so thank you Pastor Trenton!

Our team also passed out truck vouchers for families to enjoy tonight. We truly hope everyone enjoys the pizza!

We want to say thank you to all those who delivered food today.

Deliveries were provided by Bellevue Christian Reform, BelPres, Crossroads Bible, Cornerstone, Creekside Covenant, Westminster, Covenant Presbyterian, Evangelical Chinese, and Victory Court.

We couldn’t possibly do this without you!

Thanks again for a great day. All the love you all pour into this program through your time, treasure, and energy are passed along to families every day! Have a wonderful evening and look forward to updating you throughout this week.

Blessings,

Erika Dull
Jubilee REACH Managing Site Coach

Jubilee REACH Communications 9/10/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 9/10/20

Groceries for Families: Week 25 - Day 3

This is Erika reporting on behalf of Ken while he is out of the office until September 29th! I still can’t believe the first version of Groceries for Families started about 6 months ago. This program has grown, developed, and blessed so many people which is due to Ken’s dedication and hard work. Please join me and the entire Jubilee family as we pray that Ken’s time off is restful and life-giving.

This is Erika reporting on behalf of Ken while he is out of the office until September 29th! I still can’t believe the first version of Groceries for Families started about 6 months ago. This program has grown, developed, and blessed so many people which is due to Ken’s dedication and hard work. Please join myself and the entire Jubilee family as we pray that Ken’s time off is restful and life giving.

Today went very smoothly, even though it started slower than we anticipated. As groceries came in this morning, our site coaches greeted and thanked them for their donations.

Groceries were provided today by Bellevue Presbyterian, Doxa, Jubilee Friends, Crossroads Bible, Lighthouse, Highland Covenant, Sacred Heart, OPPC, and FUMC.

It was enjoyable to see familiar faces and to also introduce myself to people who were donating for the first time. For me, it was a reminder that when we have a need, God will provide people to meet it.

Along with the donations from churches, Ed- another Jubilee REACH Site Coach, made a trip to Farmers Frog to pick up 6 pallets of food boxes. We kept 4 for today and packaged them into one box in order to provide families with an assortment of produce, protein, and dairy.

The other two boxes were given to Pastor Gerardo at El Dios Viviente Church in West Seattle. We also received a delivery from extra food from QFC which allowed us to put some extra vegetables, dairy products, and bakery items in the market. Some other items were added from Master Gardeners (see picture) as well.

To finish up a great day, tonight the food truck will be here from 4pm-7pm. It is Mexican cuisine from Ay Guey so join us if you can!

As the day comes to an end, I feel very grateful for today. Grateful that Ken set our team up for a successful day while he got to rest, grateful for donors who go above and beyond daily to support Groceries for Families, and grateful for a team that serves our community so well. Excited to keep you all up to date over the next few weeks.

Bless you all,

Erika Dull
Jubilee REACH Managing Site Coach
On behalf of the Jubilee family

Jubilee REACH Communications 9/9/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 9/9/20

Groceries for Families: Week 25 - Day 2

We’re getting better at this Version 1.5, but it remains quite difficult requiring lots of labor. Whew! The AM crew is very busy receiving groceries & pantry items, unloading the food boxes, and beginning the sorting & packing required. The PM crew continues the sorting & packing, as well as serving all the families. The logistics are a lot to pull it together, but so worth it to send families home with lots of food for the week. In short, it is working. The mix of fresh foods, non-perishables, and hygiene items is excellent. Thank you!

Groceries today were provided by 24-Seven, Bellevue Presbyterian, Victory Court, Crossroads Bible, St. Louise, Newport Covenant, Bellevue Christian Reformed, as well as the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, and Jubilee Friends group. A total of 160 orders came in today and all but 16 went out to families. Extra came in today, which normally come yesterday. Thank you everyone for the love poured into the donations! So great!

We are continuing to get fresh food from Farmer Frog in Woodinville, which is getting food boxes provided by the federal government.

The Jubilee REACH truck was at the farm early this morning to be in line. Ed returned with 6 pallets of food boxes. (See photo to the right).

The crew unloaded them and quickly sorted them to add eggs, tomatoes, and bananas.

The result is a well-packed variety of fresh foods, including dairy, meat, and produce. Zsofia at FF runs a great operation. We are fortunate to have her as a partner. One of the pallets was picked up by Pastor Gerardo at El Dios Viviente Church in West Seattle.

Fresh vegetables and fruit continue to arrive daily from local gardeners. The King County Master Gardeners, Holy Cross Lutheran Gardeners, and Creekside Covenant Gardeners all make regular deliveries. Thank you!!!

Pastor Trenton came and was part of the PM crew today, from Lighthouse Church. He carried groceries to cars and filled in many gaps all afternoon. Thank you, Trenton!

The food truck will be here tomorrow night from 4pm-7pm. It is Mexican cuisine from Ay Guey. Come if you can.

More families came today to enter the program. The need remains high in our community. Thank you for all you are doing to care for these dear members of our community. It is where we should be.

Erika will continue these emails for a few weeks, still using this account. I’ll be writing again on Sep 29th.

Bless you all,

Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family

Jubilee REACH Communications 9/8/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 9/8/20

Groceries for Families: Week 25 - Day 1

Our Friends,

The second week of V2 started off a bit ominous with the smoke and higher temperatures. We kept the building closed up this morning to keep the smoke out. By 8am, however, the smoke started to leave and by 9am it was much improved. We quickly opened the building up for fresh air to circulate. The hot temperature kept away for today, which was a blessing. Tuesday is the busy day of the week, so was hopping with lots of shoppers dropping off groceries and pantry items. The afternoon saw over 190 families come through. Busy day!

Our Friends,

(Volunteer opportunities are available at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b094daeaf2fa6fc1-volunteer, including tomorrow and all this week.)

Groceries today came from Bellevue Christian Reformed, Crossroads Bible, Covenant Presbyterian, Evangelical Chinese, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Presbyterian, Creekside Covenant and Cornerstone churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 178 orders came in today and all went out to families. We were a little short of orders today but had enough items collected to make orders to easily close the gap. Thank you to everyone who participated today. Such a great day!

Families are offered pantry items to go along with their groceries. Today the list included diapers, wipes, laundry soap, rice, pinto beans, sugar, salt, corn meal flour, pet food & litter. The crew does a great job of quickly packing the requested items. All are popular and very important for families. Thank you to everyone who continues to donate these pantry items. An email goes out on Wednesday with the priority list of such items. It you want to receive that email, reply back with a request.

We want to welcome a few new partners who will be providing groceries and pantry items: Newport Covenant Church, Calvary Chapel Eastside Church, Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, Bellevue Kiwanis. Welcome!

Senior lunches were delivered today by Barb and her crew to 25 people in the community. Thank you, Barb and crew!

The food truck will be here on Thursday this week from 4-7pm. It is Mexican food from Ay Guey! It is one of the best. Come if you can.

A personal story from Ken:

Last week, Tuesday was the first day of the new version of this program. As I sat in my home drinking coffee very early, I was praying about the day. One thing not figured out yet was how we were going to get shopping done for a number of food items we needed to purchase that day. I prayed through that asking for help to figure it out. When I reached Jubilee, Randy Eng, Jubilee Exec Dir, arrived with me, and we chatted a bit. He suddenly said that last night he was in the driveway with a neighbor talking about this program. She offered to shop for us, if we ever had a need. Wow, that was a fast answer to the prayer. I called Irene minutes later. She was at Jubilee 30 minutes later. Shopping was done soon after. That’s honestly how things roll around here very, very often. We have no idea how something will happen or get done, until all of a sudden a solution presents itself. This is often through one of you. Thank you for being answers to so many prayers! Furthermore to the story, many other shoppers have now come forward, so the daily shopping is taken care of. Thank you!

Time-off update from Ken:

Beginning Thursday of this week, I will be taking some time off, returning September 28. It has been a wonderful 6 month run from early March to this point. My brain and body need an break. It takes a lot to get me tired, and I can honestly admit to being so now. In my absence, Erika Dull, Alleigha Bizik and Sam Childers will be running the program. They have been walking along side me for weeks, so are ready to go. Plus, the crew of very high performing superstars is very experienced and capable of taking on any challenge. These are wonderful people, let me tell you. Erika will be monitoring my email account, so all communication can still be the same for all of you. She will respond. Please pray for me. Our oldest child, Evan, heads off to college on Friday, which will be a very emotional day for mom and dad. Our daughters are both in high school at Newport. It’s time I reconnect with them more and get caught up on the to-do list around the house. Thank you for all love and support shown to me daily by all of you. I feel it and am so glad to be close to you through this program. If you need me, get me tomorrow before it’s too late.

We begin week 2 with 484 families in the ‘Groceries for Families’ program. What’s great about starting over with registration, is all of these are showing up. Our no-show factor is very small. Love that! Walk-in’s continue to be added at around 5-10 every day, so it is steadily growing.

Thanks for another great day. Enjoy the evening, wherever you are.

Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family

Jubilee REACH Communications 9/3/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 9/3/20

Groceries for Families: Week 24 - Day 3

On the scale of difficulty, today was much better than yesterday and waaaay better than Tuesday. Thank goodness! It helped that families didn’t all arrive at 1pm with an endless line. We go through the first rush by 1:30pm, which is very normal. It made the rest of the afternoon much easier. We’re still working on the new operation to make it better, and it will take some time. But, overall, it was a great day to end the week. Shoppers dropping off groceries this morning was wonderful. It’s always so nice to see so many faces. The weather seems to be getting warmer.

Groceries today came from Lighthouse, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Highland Covenant, Sacred Heart Parish, Sacred Heart School, First United Methodist and Doxa churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 129 orders came in today and all but 4 went out to families today, including 2 by delivery. Thank you to everyone who participated today. The new program is working!!!

Ed and Kandan (site coaches) left early this morning to be at Farmer Frog for an 8am pick up.

They returned with six pallets of food boxes, which we used as the core of the groceries today.

It takes quite a bit of labor to get these boxes, unpack the perishables and then repack them for families.

But it is a wonderful bridge in Version 1.5 until 2.0 arrives on September 22. For now, this is working and is getting nourishing food for families.

Thank you to all the crew who made it all happen this week with their sweat and muscle. Wow!

The weekly delivery from Eastside Baby Corner came today, as it does most Thursdays.

A carload of needed diapers arrived in the late morning with Theresa. Thank you to this wonderful organization and valuable partner.

A few emails from families to share:

Hi, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who makes this free grocery program for us who needed it. Thank you Donors and volunteers who give all their time and effort. I'm so grateful for all you do. Besides, it helps me a lot. My siblings are counting on my financial support the little money I saved helps them. Words can’t hardly express what I want to say. Take care all of you. Again thank you so much.
A todas esas personas maravillosas que dan su ayuda , tiempo, a las personas voluntarias FELICITO!!!!! Por ese gesto noble y grande de corazón !!!! Gracias por esa ayuda que recibimos!!!!! Durante el tiempo que fuimos por esta necesidad de alimento, y poder aliviar solo me queda decir DiosNuestro Creador bendiga a cada uno!!!!!!!! Mil bendiciones y mis respeto para todos ustedes, que dieron un aliciente para poder continuar en estos momentos tan difíciles, gracias gracias gracias

To all those wonderful people who give their help, time, to the volunteers, CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! For that noble and great gesture of heart !!!! Thanks for the help we received !!!!! During the time that we went for this need for food, and to be able to relieve I can only say God Our Creator bless each one!!!!!!!! A thousand blessings and my respect for all of you, who gave an incentive to continue in these difficult times, thank you, thank you thank you

There enough remaining food from the boxes today, that we’ve invited all the families to come at 9am tomorrow if they want any extra. It is necessary to get the refrigerators empty for the food coming next Tuesday. Plus, some are perishable, which need to go home with someone. Hopefully, plenty will come.

With families coming only Tue, Wed and Thu, this week is complete for food distribution. Tomorrow and Monday will be office days, which is a welcome window of time. This email will return on Tuesday.

Thank you for a wonderful first week of Version 1.5. It is working, and we’re grateful to everyone for making the transition.

Have a great holiday weekend,

Ken Carpenter
Service Coordinator, Jubilee REACH
On behalf of the Jubilee family

Groceries for Families began in March 2020 to serve families financially affected by the pandemic. Over 25 organizations and churches have partnered with Jubilee REACH to provide families with groceries, hygiene items, and supplies.

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