Groceries for Families: Week 13 - Day 4

Jun 18

Hello summer! …at least for a couple of days or so. It was so nice to be warm, evening in the morning. All the doors were open today, bringing in a nice breeze. All the canopies went up to offer shade to the families and staff outside. It was a super busy day, AM and PM, but everything just sailed along nicely. The two crews worked really hard. Thank you!

Groceries today came from Sacred Heart, Kalos, Overlake Park Presbyterian, Redeemer, First United Methodist, Bellevue Presbyterian, and Doxa churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 187 orders came in and all but 17 went out to families today, including 34 by delivery. The remaining orders will mostly go out tomorrow as deliveries, as we ran out of time today. Thank you to everyone participating today. Thursdays are especially busy with nine different groups bringing groceries.

Blue Plate Catering from Seattle was back today with lots of ready to eat meals for families: hamburger, chicken strips, chicken corn dogs, beef tacos, and some very tasty looking chocolate cookies. All were very popular. Bruce will be back for one more delivery day tomorrow. Thank you!

The market was also stocked with many canned items, fresh lettuce, potatoes, herbs, and even a nice selection of yogurt on ice.

Two members of Kalos Church own Armstrong Services, a commercial cleaning, and building maintenance services company.

Today, they donated 5 boxes of toilet paper and 2 boxes of paper towels.

See to the left for picture.

Thank you!

A donation of apples, potatoes and onions came from Chelan Foods today.

Ed took the Jubilee REACH Thrift Store truck to a distribution farm in Maltby to pick it up.

See to the right for a picture of the crew unloading it all.

A personal follow-up story from Ken:

Many of you on this email and reading the blog have sought me out in person to comment on how the story of the family who only eats vegetables and my change of attitude has touched you. Very nice to hear. The family continues to come Mondays and Thursdays, usually the wife but sometimes the husband. There is a bin in our refrigerator which I just toss vegetables and fruit into as it arrives each day. It’s been quite amazing to see what is appearing, so much so that I wonder if some of you are sending specific things just for them. It’s working! On Monday this week, they had eggplant, kale, asparagus, broccoli, and lots more common items. Today, their bags had a personal-size watermelon, kale, cherries, carrots, herbs, and lots more common items. Only the mom was here, so I asked about their daughter. Today is her graduation day from Sherwood Forest Elementary, so she was home watching the ceremony online. The mom gave me a very nice smile as I handed her the groceries and wished her family congratulations. Keep sending the different vegetables! They will reach this family, I promise.

Each day right before we open for the families, we do a quick crew orientation. We talk through the crew positions, inventory of items, and anything unusual going on. Additionally, we also talk about two things: 1) the importance of all the health practices we have in place, so as to keep the virus out of here; 2) receiving the love, time, treasure and effort poured into all the groceries, hygiene, bulk foods, diapers, and more by all the shoppers and the need to pass it along to all the families. We then pray (today it was in Spanish) and take the silly selfie you see each day. It is a bit of a ritual and a good way to stay focused on the main things around us.

Thank you for another wonderful day. Have a great and warm evening, wherever you are.

Blessings,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications

Groceries for Families: Week 13 - Day 4

Groceries for Families: Week 13 - Day 5

Groceries for Families: Week 13 - Day 3