GROCERIES FOR FAMILIES

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 11/24/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 11/24/20

Groceries for Families: Week 35 - Day 2

The weather had us watching it all day, but we mostly made it through fine. The morning was dry, but a storm seemed to roll through about 2:00pm which brought a lot of rain. It eventually moved on, so turned out to be just a blip on the radar today. It feels like it could have been worse. Tuesdays are great…always smooth. The families were lined up across the line at opening time, and the line stayed long all afternoon. We finished at about 3:10pm, which is very fine. Shoppers streamed in all morning with lots of groceries and pantry items. Thanks for a great day!

Groceries today were brought by East Shore Unitarian, Evangelical Chinese, Victory Court, Covenant Presbyterian, Awakening, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Cornerstone and Creekside Covenant churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 192 orders came in today and all went out to families today. We ran out of non-perishable groceries today about 2:50pm, so the last 20-25 families didn’t get one. That’s not happened before in Version 2, but certainly has been possible with the volume. Thank you to everyone who donated today.

The call-out in yesterdays email for #5 diapers received a very strong response. About 15 boxes of #5 arrived today and more have been ordered online or will be delivered in the coming days. Thank you!!! We had enough to refill the inventory today and should have enough for tomorrow. The others still coming will carry us into next week. The wholesale delivery order will come on Wednesday, so we’re almost there. We’re so grateful for your quick attention and action.

We ran out of the perishable food boxes each day last week, so have been looking to increase the inventory. Cascadia and Medosweet couldn’t send more than the 192 allotted to us. So, today, Scott took the box truck to Farmer Frog in Woodinville, which provided us 100 extra food boxes. Wow! We used about 15 today and stored all the perishables for the other boxes. We’ll not be able to use these tomorrow and all next week to ensure every family receives a food box. Hopefully, we can repeat this weekly. While up in Woodinville, Scott also picked up a pallet of baby red potatoes and a pallet of red cabbages. The AM volunteer crew did the hard work of unloading it all by hand. Both are very popular items, so great to have in the market.

When buying fresh produce at Cash & Carry early yesterday morning, the manager offered us 9 cases of plantains which had been shipped to the store accidently. We’ve had them in the market yesterday and today. They are very, very popular and so great to offer families. It’s just another bit of fun to add to the day. Yeah!

Lunch was delivered today to 25 senior citizens in the community by Barb (Hospitality Manager) and her crew. These lunches are made with love and very popular with the families. For six of them, we added fresh produce from yesterday’s senior market. Thank you, Barb and crew!

A few quick notes to share:

Lunch was again delivered for the crew today by Maria, who comes for groceries each Tuesday. She often spoils us, sometimes using ingredients from Jubilee for the meal. Today she brought a shrimp pasta and vegetable dish, which we will enjoy for tomorrow’s lunch. As she says, she wants to show us her love through her cooking. Hooray! Please accept this love, too, as it is meant for you all equally.

Five people gave us Thanksgiving cards today, with sweet notes inside. It was fun to receive each and give a nice simple hug in response. A picture of the front of the five cards is below. It’s great to see how people express thanks and appreciation in different ways.

Week 13 is rolling right along; just one more day to go. It sure felt like Wednesday today, with having families here yesterday. Thank you for another great day. Thank you for all the love you are pouring into these sweet members of our community. It is working! Please keep going.

If you have any friends, neighbors or others you’d like to get engaged in providing groceries, we are in need of increasing the daily count. They can sign up through the Jubilee Friends website: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0b49a5aa2ba3fd0-jubilee

Thanks for spreading the word.

Have a great evening, wherever this email finds you.

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 11/23/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 11/23/20

Groceries for Families: Week 35 - Day 1

This entry comes to you on a Monday this week, as we shifted the entire Thursday operation to today because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Overall, the one day change went very well. Shoppers were slow to come but the 11am-12pm window had over 100 grocery orders dropped off. What a rush! Thank you. Families lined up like normal but not everyone came. We probably missed 40-50 families today. It’s quite likely they will come tomorrow or Wednesday instead. Not everyone can switch days so easily. The weather cooperated, with cooler temperatures but dry. The week is off and running!

This entryl comes to you on a Monday this week, as we shifted the entire Thursday operation to today because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Overall, the one day change went very well. Shoppers were slow to come but the 11am-12pm window had over 100 grocery orders dropped off. What a rush! Thank you. Families lined up like normal but not everyone came. We probably missed 40-50 families today. It’s quite likely they will come tomorrow or Wednesday instead. Not everyone can switch days so easily. The weather cooperated, with cooler temperatures but dry. The week is off and running!

Groceries today came from Lighthouse, Highland Covenant, Sacred Heart School & Parish, Overlake Park Presbyterian, First United Methodist, Crossroads Bible, Doxa and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Rotary Bellevue Sunrise Club and Jubilee Friends group. A total of 177 orders came in today and all went out to families today, including four by delivery. Thank you for the donations today and for shifting days this week.

Because of the day change, delivery of the food boxes was not available. So, Randy took our box truck to Kent at 9am this morning to pick up 200 boxes. He was back by 10am, and the volunteers quickly unloaded the pallets into the production area.

Produce through the King County Grants was delivered this morning. A nice small selection came specifically for senior citizens in the community, including some lovely mushrooms from Mt. Si.

A larger delivery came for the grocery program, which adds some wonderful fresh produce to the market. The senior citizens usually come from 12pm-2pm but had to shift to 4-5pm because of the change in grocery days. About 25 seniors came and we’ll deliver to about 6-8 tomorrow.

The Clyde Hill Police did a food and pantry drive for the ‘Groceries for Families’ program over the weekend. Early this morning three police vehicles full to the roof showed up. Lots of different items came in. They were able to engage many people in the Clyde Hill and Yarrow Point communities. Thank you CHPD!

The market was nice and full today with a variety of items. Volunteers brought donations from the Safeway Thrasher’s Corner. Volunteers brought donations from the QFC Crossroads. The grant produces added a lot. Lots of non-perishable donations came in, too. Thank you everyone.

We did a separate market last Friday, inviting all the families to come. It was a chance to put out much non-perishable food, frozen food, and random items. Doing it this way gives the families much more time to examine items and not be rushed. We’ll be doing this more often in December.

A few emails from families:

Today was my first visit for the grocery program. I was surprised how all the people in Jubilee Reach prepare and organize the Grocery program for the families. I also appreciate all the donors about the food with great quality. The food offered would be truly helpful to my family, and the love for neighbors would be remembered forever. I hope to be a donor of Jubilee Reach in near future. Thank you so much again!
We’ve not met yet, but the staffs and volunteers at Jubilee Reach has been awesome. Making it happen day after day. As the pandemic continues on, it’s digging deeper for continued enthusiasm, and I don’t see a decrease at all. Ken and Daniel is always there greeting and helping. Barbara help speeding up the line knocking out the oil and dish soap filling station. They make it feel like it’s a sunny day out. I want them to know, they’ve made keeping my 5 boys charged and recharged a whole lot easier. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

We begin this 13th week of version 2 of the ‘Groceries for Families’ program with 697 families in the program. Last week, 12 were added and 4 removed. A total of 14 families were on the waiting list before today, with another 6 added today. There are 58 families on the ‘watch list’, meaning they are not coming regularly enough. Denisse communicates with them to learn why they are not coming weekly and will try to help.

Thanks for another great day. This essential program is working. Thank you for all you’re doing to sustain it.

Have a great evening,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 11/19/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 11/19/20

Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 3

No storm today…hooray! While the temperature was cooler, the dry weather was a welcome break from yesterday. It made everything easier and helped with morale, for sure. The morning was buzzing with happy shoppers. Families came steadily all afternoon, with the end of the line reaching the front a few times, which is always nice. We opened 10 minutes early and finished at 3:10pm. Nice. Very nice. A good day.

Groceries today came from Lighthouse, Highland Covenant, Sacred Heart Parish & School, Doxa, First United Methodist, Overlake Park Presbyterian, Bellevue Presbyterian and Crossroads Bible churches, as well as the Rotary Bellevue Sunrise Club and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 187 orders came in today and all went out to families today. We made about 10 extra orders at the end of the day to finish it off. Thank you to everyone who donated today.

We welcome two new churches to the program who will be bringing groceries beginning next week: East Shore Unitarian and Indian Fellowship. Welcome!!!

The AM volunteer crew did a great job this morning sorting all the groceries and packing the food boxes. They also loaded pallets into the truck by hand, as the pallet jack ran out of battery. (see picture to the right) The food boxes arrived about 10:30am, so no stress today about food.

A few emails from families:

Gracias todo el staf q hacen posible por repartir la comida Dios bendiga a cada uno de ustedes y muchisimas gracias a todas las personas de buen corazon q Dios les bendiga y multiplique la ayuda q nos brindan yo soy la mama de 3 hijos un niño de 12 años un niño de 9 años y una niña de 1 año y mi esposo esta desempleado desde marzo la ayuda q ustedes nos brindan es de gran ayuda he vivido en Bellevue por 17 años los cuales mi esposo siempre a trabajado muy duro para sacarnos adelanté y jamas habiamos pedido o recibido ayuda de ningun tipo hasta ahora q nuestra situacion esta muy muy difil con todo nustro corazon decimos gracias Jubliee. Maria

Thanks to all the staff who make it possible to distribute the food. God bless each of you and thank you very much to all the people with a good heart that God bless you and multiply the help you give us. I am the mother of 3 children, a child of 12 years, 9 years and 1 year old and my husband has been unemployed since March, the help that you give us is great. I’ve been living in Bellevue for 17 years which my husband has always worked very hard to get us ahead and we have never asked or received any kind of help until now that our situation is very difficult with all our hearts we say thank you jubilee. Maria

Hola buenas tardes, soy Heidy, estoy muy agradecida por el programa k ustedes hacen para nosotros , que Dios los bendiga , y claro que si he tenido un poco de problemas , pero seguire haciendo lo posible por ir a recoger esta maravillosa bendicion Que ustedes nos proveen , mil gracias.Dios los bendiga .un abrazo enorme y mi corazon lleno de gratitud para ustedes .

Hi Good Afternoon, I’m Heidy, I’m very grateful for this program that you make for us, May God bless you, and of course, I got some problems, but I will keep doing my best to go and pick up my groceries, that you provide us, a thousand thanks, God bless you, a huge hug to you and my heart is full of gratitude for you.

The biggest needs on the pantry list are baby wipes, diapers size 5 and diapers size 6. It looks like paper towels may be very difficult to find in stores, so we may have to put those on hold for the foreseeable future.

We end this week on a very good note, with many good things happening through this program. The registration remains capped at 701, with the waiting list growing again today.

Thank you for all your support and commitment to these families.

Peace to you all,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 11/18/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 11/18/20

Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 2

Did anyone else see that storm come through this afternoon? No fun. The weather report early this morning said morning showers with sun breaks in the afternoon. Yeah, not so much. The rain persisted much of the morning and turned stormy while families were here. The rain came down very hard at times, which gave our gutter system a good test. Shoppers braved the weather all morning, dropping off a steady stream of groceries, diapers, and pantry items. Thank you!!! The families had no choice to face the weather and seemed to be in good spirits, despite the cold.

Groceries today were brought by St. Louise, 24-Seven, Crossroads Bible, Calvary Chapel Eastside, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Bellevue Presbyterian and Newport Covenant churches, as well as the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Bellevue and the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 202 orders came in and all went out to families today. It was a very busy day, which seems to be par for the course on Wednesdays. The last families didn’t finish until 3:40pm, which is the latest ever. The rain definitely slowed things down. Overall, it was a very good day. Thank you to everyone who participated today.

A few weeks ago one of the main carports in the yard was damaged by a strong wind.

Since then replacement parts were ordered and the remaining canopies were much more firmly secured to the ground. The new parts arrived yesterday and two volunteers came this morning to build and secure the carport.

It took them a good hour+ in the rain to get it in place. A donor delivered two bales of straw, which volunteers spread under the new 20’ of coverage. Families today enjoyed the new dry zone, which was really needed.

There are now 10’ x 100’ of coverage in the grass, all with straw to keep the mud down. This allows us to have two lines of cones, each spread 7’ apart for social distancing. That’s about 28 families undercover, plus another 8 closer to the building. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

The Bellevue School District donated about 100 boxes of school supplies today. Inside each box are many sleeves, each with wonderful supplies. We will distribute them to families next week. Thank you, BSD!

The food truck this morning didn’t show up as scheduled at 9:30am. After yesterday, we gave them a little grace. At 11:10am, we texted Cascadia Produce only to learn they has mistakenly left us off the list today. Gulp! They were able to quickly load a truck, which arrived at 12:18pm and was unloaded at 12:40pm. This meant the PM crew had to quickly finish the packing of the boxes on the fly, while families were here. We are fortunate to have had the perishable food here today. Whew!

There was an editorial article in The Seattle Times last week, which touches on exactly what is happening with the ‘Groceries for Families’ program: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/remember-the-hungry-as-the-winter-of-covid-19-nears/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_inset_1.1

A few emails from families:

Hi, I would like to thank all the people that helped and are helping to provide groceries and other items for my family each Wednesday. We are a one income family of six. God bless you all. Have a great day! Thank you so much!
Hi, I would like to write a thank-you letter for people who were so generous and supporting. (I lost my work since COVID 19 started and everything was super hard to maintain. A lot of bills and short working opportunities. I was really struggling, specially kids were involved and as a single mom. I couldn't let them feel any differences from a regular life routine. The rent and food assistance made a huge difference in my life. I hope one day I can support my community, help others and make a difference in someone’s life. I am so grateful.

We made the decision today to cap the program at the current 701 family level. There have been many weeks of discussion that led to the decision.

The main points are 1) the number of families has continued to steadily rise, 2) the amount of food received daily is equal to or slightly less than what is needed to support these families, 3) the amount of time needed to serve these families daily has regularly gone past the 2-hour window and is now nearly 2.5 hours daily. There seems to be little change in point 1, which has 5-20 new families coming to Jubilee daily. While we want to help everyone, we recognize there is a limit to what this operation can handle. For point 2, we are seeking new sources of food. Non-perishables means finding new partners in the community. Perishables mean getting food boxes from a 2nd distributor, likely with us picking it up. Point 3 is the most difficult of all, as we can’t just create more time. There are limits to what we can do with the labor available. Stay tuned for more details as the days progress.

New families arriving at Jubilee will be asked to wait until the end of the day, about 3:15pm. We will register them onto the waiting list of the program, giving them an orange ID card, instead of the normal white. We will provide them whatever food we can from the inventory available. Today, we had about 12 families come through at the end with the orange cards. All received milk, meat, and plenty of produce. We won’t let any family leave without food. Each family on the waiting list will be invited to return each week at the end of the day with their ID card. We’ll do what we can to give them whatever food is available. It is very likely, the waiting list will be growing substantially in the coming weeks. Please pray for this. Please pray for discernment of what we should do. Please pray for the resources to become available. If you discern anything through your prayers, please respond to this email.

There are certain challenges we face daily: worsening weather, long lines of families, inconsistent food delivery, ever-changing details. However, regardless of what challenges we are facing, the families are facing far more difficult challenges. Part of what this program is trying to do is support the families as they face these challenges. That is done through food, diapers, pantry items, and more. It is also done through compassion, friendship, community, and being with them at the moment. They too face the weather. They are the ones waiting in the long lines. They need food. They have to adapt to all the changing details. Life is hard. This is how it is right now. And we (you, us, this community) must stay with them. Where else should we be?

Thank you for staying with them. Bless you all.

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 11/17/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 11/17/20

Groceries for Families: Week 34 - Day 1

Our recent fortune with the weather ran out today, with wind blowing all day and heavy rains coming down just as we opened at 1pm. The rain was coming in sideways, getting under the canopies for about 30 minutes. Blah! Fortunately, the wind died down, making the rain tolerable. Shoppers experienced a little wind with no rain this morning, which was fine. Lots of people came into the parking lot all morning long dropping off groceries and pantry items. Families were lined up across the lawn at opening time and kept coming right up until 3:10pm or so. It felt like a very smooth day, with the crew working quickly and efficiently. Week 13 of version 2 of ‘Groceries for Families’ is off and running.

Groceries today were provided by Bellevue Presbyterian, Awakening, Victory Court, Covenant Presbyterian, Evangelical Chinese, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Creekside Covenant, Cornerstone Fellowship and Crossroads Bible churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 185 orders came in today, plus we made 14 extra orders yesterday. All went out to families today. Thank you to everyone who donated today!

We picked up fresh produce at Cash & Carry early this morning. Costco delivered lots of roma tomatoes. Meadowsweet Farms delivered 192 food boxes about 10:30am. Lots of food was flowing in this morning. King County Grant produce arrived on Sunday and Monday, both. Volunteers brought food from Safeway Bothell and QFC Crossroads. The start of the week is always abundant. The market looked great today.

The AM Volunteer Crew came from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. This crew of 8 received all the incoming groceries and processed them inside. They built about half the food boxes. It was a great time all morning. Thank you, CCF!

Ice cream bars were delivered yesterday as a donation from Moonie Icy Tunes Catering. They had a corporate event cancel after purchasing the ice cream, so some of it ended up here. We’ll hold it for a special market we’ll do this coming Friday for families. What fun!!! Thank you Scott and Sharon.

Kid Quest Museum in downtown Bellevue brought 200 Remote Learning Kits yesterday focused on Music, Math and Movement. They are intended for elementary age children. We passed them out today to families with kids in Kindergarten to 5th grade. Instructions were in English and Spanish. What fun!!! Thank you, Jamie.

On Thursday, we took down the canopies for the four carports in the main yard to take them out of harms way with the heavy wind over the weekend. Yesterday, volunteers returned to put the canopies back up. With the strong winds today, the same volunteers returned this morning to secure the structures even more, using full buckets of water as weight. Thank you, Dan, Jeff, Gayle and Charlie.

A few good stories to share:

The truck with the food boxes was late arriving this morning. Due at 9:30am, it still wasn’t here at 10:30am, and we (read Ken here) were getting a bit anxious. Pastor Anton with Cornerstone quickly led a prayer to push away the anxiety and ask God to deliver the food on His time. Not 10 seconds after ‘Amen’ the truck appeared in the parking lot. Why do we worry?
Dan is a volunteer who covered a shift in the afternoon while families were here. He volunteers at Jubilee a lot, but this was his first opportunity to work the afternoon shift. In the end, he shared one very touching story. He pushed a full grocery cart out to a car for a family, loaded with food, diapers, and more. When they reached the car, the mom quickly opened the diapers just received and changed their baby in the back of the car. This family came to Jubilee needing the next diaper. They are living minute to minute, diaper to diaper. This is why we all help.
Lilly comes for groceries each Tuesday and always brings the crew bottled water. She is lovely and always lifts spirits. She knows Site Coach Jakeh from Big Picture, who also works on Tuesdays. Today she brought the crew lunch! There are homemade enchiladas, rice, and beans. (Jakeh got his own personal tray.) We will enjoy lunch tomorrow. She said that while she doesn’t have much, she can show us love through her cooking, so that is what she will do. So sweet. While you won’t be able to enjoy the food, please receive her thanks and love, as it is intended as much for all of you.

Thank you to everyone who continues to bring the extra pantry items, especially the call for diapers last week. It is working! The supply is stable. Our overall inventory for diapers is far down and needs to stretch to the end of the month when a purchased wholesaler delivery will arrive for all sizes but #6. Please keep stepping into this gap. We hope to not run out of diapers on any one day. Thank you!

We begin this week with 689 families in the program, representing 3,100 people. There were 30 families new to the program last week. There are 30 families on our ‘watch list’ who we are working with to come more regularly. There have been 38 families removed from the program since September 1. The demand remains very high. Another 12 new families entered the program today, so we are now over 700. It is likely we will need to run a waiting list soon, as both supply and time are getting stretched. We’re in discussions about that right now. Please pray with us over this decision.

With the new state restrictions around Covid-19, the ‘Groceries for Families’ program will not change. It is considered an essential service. There are no changes planned. We have had a very tight safety protocol in regards to the virus and will be steadfast in enforcing these.

Thanks for another great day. We wish you a pleasant evening, wherever this email finds you.

Serving together,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 11/12/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 11/12/20

Groceries for Families: Week 33 - Day 3

Somehow we missed the coming rain and wind today, making it a clean sweep for decent weather this week during operation. Whew! The rain and wind started right at 3:30pm as the last families were leaving. Thursdays seem to often be a pleasant day. Being the last operational day of the week, it feels like running downhill a bit. Today was great. Lots of activity in the morning with happy shoppers. One volunteer commented that the shoppers are all smiling through their masks. Love that! Families streamed through all afternoon, with operation cruising through without a hitch. The crew works really hard to get 200+/- families through in 120-150 minutes. It’s quite an art to move quickly, while also staying in relationship with people so they don’t feel like a transaction. The crew is great at it.

Groceries today came from the Rotary Bellevue Sunrise Club and the Jubilee Friends group, as well as First United Methodist, Lighthouse, Bellevue Presbyterian, Crossroads Bible, Highland Covenant, Sacred Heart (school & parish), Doxa and Overlake Park Presbyterian churches. A total of 156 orders came in today, which was light in numbers, but we carried over plenty from yesterday to fill the gap. In total, 210 orders went out to families today, with 14 orders carrying over to Tuesday. Thank you to everyone who participated today.

The new food boxes from the USDA arrived today, right on schedule at 9:30am. They are being built and delivered by a partnership between Cascadia Produce and Meadowsweet Farms Dairy.

They are probably the best boxes we’ve ever received. Each box contained produce (3# apples, 5# potatoes, 2# carrots, acorn squash), dairy (1 gallon 2% milk, a block of mozzarella cheese, 8 oz. sour cream, 16 oz. vanilla yogurt, 1# butter) and protein (pork taco filling, 8 chicken hot dogs, 1 dozen eggs).

The crews removed the milk to distribute separately. In this space, we added the fresh produce purchased this morning (lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, green pepper, cucumber). It was easy to pack and distribute, giving the families a well balanced and amount of food. Love it! It is likely some content will change over the coming days/weeks, but this should be our pattern through December.

The AM crew of individual volunteers did a great job this morning. They received all the incoming groceries and pantry items, plus packed about half the food boxes. They had fun. If you haven’t done this yet, you can sign up for Nov 23 or 24 at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b094daeaf2fa6fc1-volunteer. Thanks crew!

The market was full today with fresh vegetables from the King County grant. People love it! Additionally, volunteers brought donations from the QFC Crossroads, and we still had some donations from the Safeway Thrashers Corner brought by volunteers earlier in the week. Thank you everyone!

A delivery came from Eastside Baby Corner today of diapers and socks. This Issaquah partner has been a consistent part of this program since the spring. Thank you, EBC and Theresa for delivering.

To the left is a picture of the feminine hygiene box we put out each day. Many of you give these personal items, which are very popular. We place this box right on the front table where groceries are handed to families. Women can select items for themselves. Thank you to everyone who continues to fill the inventory here so this item can be offered.

With strong wind forecasted, volunteers came today at 3:30pm to take down the canopies out on the main lawn which are most exposed to the wind.

Two weeks ago, we lost one canopy to wind (replacement parts are on order), so we decided to be proactive this time. The canopies were laid down to cover the straw and keep the ground dry, being held down with paving stones. Thank you volunteers! We’ll put them back up on Monday.

An email from Melissa Slater, Bellevue School District Equity Project Leader, and National Board Program Coordinator. She is one of the main BSD contacts who help refer families to the ‘Groceries for Families’ program.

This is an overdue thank you for the work you and your amazing Jubilee team have been doing for so many of our most vulnerable students and families. I am beyond impressed by the work being done by…your entire team! Things are more difficult than ever for our families…and the services you are providing are making a profound difference for those that need it most. Thank you for all you and your team continue to do for others in our community. I will forever be thankful.

I hope this finds you safe and well,

Melissa

An email from a family:

Hi, I would like to thank all the people that helped and are helping to provide groceries and other items for my family each Wednesday. We are a one-income family of six. God bless you all. Have a great day! Thank you so much!

We end this week on a very positive note. Despite the difficult situation many families in this community are facing, through the ‘Groceries for Families’ program, they are finding hope, support, love and a feeling that someone cares. That is you, all of you, all of us. We don’t do this for any person gain or credit. We do it because we are called to do so. It is exactly where we all should be. Thank you for being a part of this impactful program. Please pray for these families. Please pray that the virus stays out of this building. It is not welcome. Pray for the resources to be sustained which make this program possible. Keep praying. Keep going. It is working!

Many of you have been asking about the holidays. We won’t be doing anything different for Thanksgiving, as it would be too much logistically. However, news will come out tomorrow about Christmas and how you can participate.

We wish you all peace,

Ken Carpenter
Director- Community Care, 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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