GROCERIES FOR FAMILIES

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 7/14/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 7/14/20

Groceries for Families: Week 17 - Day 2

Today may have been the busiest day in the 98-day history of this ‘Groceries for Families’ program. It sure felt that way, at least. Whew! The morning was very busy with incoming groceries, food box deliveries, some runs to QFC, and other extras. The afternoon was non-stop families, right up until 3:15pm. Plus, Tuesday/Friday families have lots of large families (8 or more), which means they get two orders of groceries. Add the heat of the afternoon and being short one crew person in the afternoon because of illness, and it made for a very, very full day. The operation itself went smoothly. No issues. But the crew was beaten.

Groceries today came from Cornerstone, Creekside Covenant, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Presbyterian, and Crossroads Bible Churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 163 orders came in and 173 actually went out to families today, including 6 by delivery. This overage was possible by using food boxes for 10 families, as described below. Thank you to everyone who donated today!

As you’ve read before, every Tuesday Pacific Coast Produces delivers five pallets of food boxes to Jubilee REACH through a program offered by the federal government. Today, the truck arrived just after 7:00am and was asked to wait 45 minutes to keep things cold as long as possible. Jubilee receives these pallets to support Viviente Dios Methodist Church in Seattle.

Pastor Guzman and his wife came at 9:00am with an empty van, and, together with the crew, quickly loaded 150 boxes full of lovely dairy products for him to distribute to his community. That’s 3750 pounds, likely overweight for the vehicle, which showed in the sagging of the back end.

The other 2 pallets are held for us to use today and tomorrow if any extra grocery orders are needed. Today, we used 10.

Pastor Guzman will return tomorrow afternoon for whatever remaining boxes there are. It is a wonderful partnership, and we are very blessed to close to them. Please pray for them, their church, and the community they are caring for in White Center.

Creekside Covenant delivered the first picked produce from their church garden today. Wow, what lovely greens! Much of it will go to the Jewish family we are caring for by saving green vegetables, as you’ve read about before. Thank you! If any of you have access to fresh summer garden vegetables, please send them our way.

With the market area occupied by the food box pallets, there wasn’t a normal market today. However, with a lot of fresh produce here, and some wonderful items brought from Trader Joes by the Food Bank at Lake Samm Foursquare Church.

We set up a long table in the exit line for people to access. A picture is attached. Essentially, it was a 20’ long table covered in apples (red, yellow), onions (white, yellow, red), potatoes, eggplant, baguettes, pineapple, mushrooms, yellow squash, cucumber, and a few more small things.

Everyone was allowed to take what they need, which is typically one plastic bag’s worth. It was just awesome. The regular market will return tomorrow.

A few emails from families:

Hi, your churches have helped so much to my family and I’m very very much thankful for all that help you guys provide. And I’m very grateful that I’m welcomed, they make us feel like home. Everyone is very nice very for helping us to take groceries to our car very much appreciated. And once again thank you. Also thank you to the family who help my family with a gas card to transport my son to he’s doc app very much appreciated thank you. I have no words to say how much we appreciated and how blessed my family is for all this help thank you.
Hola Daniel. Primeramente para agradecerles a todas las personas que nos dieron su apoyo estos meses difíciles, mi Familia y yo estamos muy agradecidos con todos ustedes. Y para informarle que ya estamos trabajando y ya no necesitaremos de las bolsas de comida. Muchas Gracias se los agradezco mucho.

Hello Daniel, First of all, I would like to thank all the people who gave us all their support during these difficult months. My family and I are very thankful for each of you. And to also inform you we are working again so we will not be needing orders of groceries anymore. Thank you very much, we are very grateful.

Thanks for another great day. This program is working. Hopefully, you feel it through these emails and through your own experiences. Together, we are meeting needs right in the community and showing people love, friendship, and compassion. Furthermore, the feedback from so many of you is equally strong, that a need is being met inside yourselves to serve, give, care, participate, and answer the call to help. We feel it too.

Through the stories you read, hopefully, you get a glance at the real people who are in this ‘Groceries for Families’ program. They are lovely members of our community, and we are all blessed to be walking through life together right now. Thank you for all you are doing. Keep going. Don’t let up. It all matters.

Bless you, bless you, bless you,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 7/13/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 7/13/20

Groceries for Families: Week 17 - Day 1

Week 17 begins with day 97. The crew is on countdown watch for day 100 this Thursday. What a great day today! Perfect weather and smooth operation all day. Mondays have 8 different groups delivering all morning, so it is a constant flow of vehicles backing in with groceries and pantry items. Families were coming all afternoon, which was awesome! Here we go!

Groceries today came from 24-Seven, Bellevue Christian Reformed, Sacred Heart, Lighthouse, Rain City, Common Good, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 152 orders came in and all went out to families today, with 6 orders held back for morning deliveries. Twenty-three orders went out by delivery today. Thank you to everyone who participated today! What a great day.

The market was nice and full today: fresh produce (lovely greens from Holy Cross Lutheran gardens), corn tortillas, baby formula, feminine hygiene, canned goods, books, kids’ clothing, and more.

A volunteer has connected us to the QFC Crossroads and will be delivering items three times a week. Today, cherries, frozen meat, and bakery goods added a nice touch to the market.

Thank you everyone who gave extras.

Pantry items were offered today, which everyone getting a choice of 3 items out of about 8 options. Thank you to everyone who helped fill the pantry the past few days.

We made the decision to not offer diapers for the first three days of the week, which is the first time we’ve not offered them. The reason is to allow the inventory to build a bit, as the outflow of diapers is quite a lot each day. No one expressed any worry to us today, which was great. We’ll offer them again at the end of the week. It felt like a good time to take a pause. Indeed, lots of diapers came in today, so the inventory did go up.

A personal follow up story from Ken:

A mom was here today and sought me out for an update. Her son is a 3-year-old who had a serious seizure last month and stopped breathing. They are continuing with tests at Children’s in Seattle but no diagnosis has been found yet. They have put him on medicine for now, but she shared how it makes her uneasy to have her young child on meds. She is new to the whole thing, with her three older children not having any such medical issues. She is taking each day one at a time and is thankful Leo is steady right now.
I asked her how else we could help their family right now. She said they need help with their Puget Sound Energy bill. Her husband is slowly getting back to work, right now at 3 days per week. He has had to trim a few shifts because of their son’s hospital visits. Their PSE bills have been deferred for months, so are piling up. PSE is pressing them to pay a significant portion of it now. I’ve asked her to send me a copy of the bill, but she said it is around $800 currently. Wow. If anyone would like to help contribute to covering this, do let me know.
I assured her many people are praying for them, so we all appreciate her update on her son. Please keep praying. I’ll update you as I get news.

We begin this week with about 565 families in the ‘Groceries for Families’ program, all coming twice per week. The next larger batch of families to exit the program will come at the end of next week. We’re in close communication with many of them and are pleased some of them are finding stability again. They are all cautious, knowing how quickly things can go backward. Please pray for these families. They are lovely people, and life is hard right now. One woman said today, “We are so fortunate to have you guys by our side. Thank you for your support.” This is passed to you all.

Enjoy the warmth of the evening,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 7/11/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 7/11/20

Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 6

As you know, Saturday is all accomplished in the morning, it's so unique from the rest of the week. The crew arrives at 8:30am, just as deliveries start coming. Most deliveries on this day come in large groups, which is very helpful for timing. Families line up while deliveries are still coming. Today, the last delivery came about 9:40am, which is just about right, for opening at 10:00am. The weather today was ideal for this operation: dry, warm but not hot. The whole day went smoothly and was very normal.

Groceries today came from Victory Court, Evangelical Chinese, and Bellevue Presbyterian churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 160 orders came in and all went out to families today, including 14 by delivery. It was a great day! Thank you to everyone who participated today. Enjoy the time-lapse. Thanks, Sam.

The market was full today with lots of good things: fruits and vegetables, bags of shredded potatoes, baby formula, books, clothing, feminine hygiene and more. Thank you to everyone who gave extras.

Today was the last day of the week for the bulk food ingredients: flour, rice, pinto beans, sugar, and salt. Some numbers are listed below.

Thank you to everyone who helped fill the pantry with these items. The crew flips the lobby at the end of Saturday to get ready for Monday. It is now full of personal hygiene items and looks great. Thanks for filling it up everyone!

A personal story from Ken:

You’ve heard the ongoing story about a wife and her husband who is getting radiation at Overlake for a brain tumor. Today, she showed up about 9:30am and came to find me, asking if we could talk. In the parking lot, she told me two traffic citations arrived in the mail this week, each showing she made illegal right turns from NE 8th westbound to 112th Ave northbound on the way to the hospital. She asked for help in understanding what this is, why it is happening, and paying the fines. She doesn’t understand the process or what she should do. She was very distressed and said her husband was very angry. They don’t have the money ($124 x 2). I walked through the citations with her, offering encouragement that they are manageable and nothing which will impact her driving record. As we worked together to calm her down, she broke into tears. It’s so clear she is handling so many things in her life, and this one new worry is just too much. Watching her cry, my heart broke. I asked if I could give her a small hug, which she permitted, wanting her to know I was there with her in the worry. She will be following through on the option to request a hearing to explain the circumstances. Hopefully, her story will be sympathetic enough to offer some relief of the fine. I’ve offered to coach her through what to say and go with her if permitted. Please pray for her. If you want to send a note of encouragement for her, just drop it at Jubilee to me. I think she would love to hear from people in the community. She needs to know people care. I’ll keep you all posted on the outcome of the tickets.

Here’s a tally of the numbers for bulk ingredients given out over the three days this week:

Flour: 136 bags or 279 lbs
Rice: 230 bags or 575 lbs
Beans: 234 bags or 281 lbs
Sugar: 290 bags or 276 lbs
Salt: 229 bags or 149 lbs

As with each Saturday, here’s a look at statistics to date after 16 weeks:

Program Days: 96
Families currently in the program: 604+
People in these families: 2713 (approximate)
Grocery orders provided to-date: 15,376
Churches & Organizations engaged: 28
Different shoppers participating: 1000 (approximate)

We end this week with about 604 families in the program, each coming twice per week. No new families were on-boarded this week, although about 20 were added to the waiting list. A total of 39 families exited this week, so there will be about 565 families in the program as of Monday.

Today marks the last day of week 16 of this ‘Groceries for Families’ program. It continues to cruise right along with so many good things happening. Thank you all for the continued participation, prayers, support, and love for the people of our community. It’s just so great to be in this with you all.

Thanks for a great week. Tomorrow is a day of rest. Be back Monday.

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 7/10/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 7/10/20

Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 5

Today was a busy day. Wow. At times, it just felt hard. It’s all good, but it just wasn’t one of those days which sailed along. We all felt it. The morning had a nice flow of incoming groceries, plus we had other deliveries. Lots of families came all afternoon, to the point where we had to use groceries set aside for deliveries. Fortunately, the weather was just perfect. The sun was warm and the north side of the building was nice and cool.

Groceries today came from Evangelical Chinese, Covenant Presbyterian, Westminster Chapel, Bellevue Presbyterian, and Crossroads Bible churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 146 orders came in, plus we carried over 35 from yesterday by shifting out-going deliveries from Thursday to Friday. Of the 181 orders, all went out to families including 20 by delivery. There are 12 deliveries remaining, which we’ll do tomorrow. It was busy today.

Awakening Church picks up extra food at the Union Gospel Mission warehouse in Kent each Friday morning and brings it to Jubilee.

Today, we provided the truck & driver. Ed returned with one pallet of beautiful fresh fruits & vegetables (lettuce, oranges, carrots, zucchini, cherries, kale, onions, potatoes, cabbage, and cilantro), and one pallet of bagged onions, peppers and shredded potatoes.

We lack the refrigeration and didn’t have the time/capacity to organize it all for the coming families here. So, we were able to invite Pastor Guzman from Viviente Dios Methodist Church in White Center to come and pick up most of it. See to the right picture of him & the full van.

As written in previous emails, this is a church whose members would be in this program, were they to live closer. We’ve become connected to them and provide them any excess food we can acquire from anywhere. Pastor Guzman cares for his flock and also cares for the surrounding community. It is a wonderful relationship, and he is doing an excellent job of pastoring his neighborhood.
Thank you Awakening, UGM, and Pastor Guzman.

Lunch for 25 senior citizens in the community was provided today by the Bellevue Fire Department and delivered by volunteers. Today was the last day for this Friday lunch, so we want to say thank you to the Bellevue Fire Department and all the volunteers who deliver each week. Thank you!

A nice load of books was donated this morning in English and Spanish. We kept one table in the market full all afternoon, and they kept disappearing. More will go out tomorrow. One set of Spanish Harry Potter books, #1-5, was a special addition. We held this back and presented it to Allison and her mom. Allison is delightful and known to many of the crew. She was thrilled to receive the books, especially in Spanish, and is likely reading book 1 right now. Thank you, Pam!

The market was nice and full today. Along with the books, there was some clothing for women and young boys. We just put a few items out at a time, to keep people from truly shopping.

Potatoes, onions, lettuce, apples, oranges, and bananas were available. It’s so great to have the market open. Thank you to everyone who brings extras to make it so nice.

A personal story from Ken:

Edwin is a man who has been coming since the beginning and rarely if ever, has missed a day. He and I have connected as men, husbands, and fathers. He’s about 35, married with two kids. His English is great, so we’re able to have detailed conversations. His previous work was as a cook at a Seattle restaurant. His work has slowly returned in June, so last Thursday, he arrived for groceries at 3:30pm, half an hour after we close. He told me then that the following Thursday (yesterday) he would be even later, and asked if it was still possible to get groceries. I told him I’d likely be in my office, so just tap on the window. With the food truck last night, I was typing away to you all when the tap came around 6:00pm. I invited him inside the building lobby to wait, as I filled the grocery bags with the cold items. It was the first time he had ever been inside, which in itself is a funny thing to think about. He was still wearing his cook pants, so had just come from work. As is often the case when I’m one-on-one with someone, I asked him what else his family really needed right now. Giving extras is definitely part of the fun around here. Common answers are laundry soap, cleaning supplies or specific foods. He eyeballed the wall of toilet paper and said they could really use some TP. I grabbed a wrapped 6 pack of Kirkland brand TP and tossed it to him. His eyes lit up like I just threw him $1000. With nothing but sincerity and gratitude, he said their family was down to their last roll, and this has made his day. That this simple item, which so many take for granted, could cause such joy, quickly grabbed my heart for him. He is a papa caring for his family and needed basic toilet paper to do that. My heart just filled for love for this guy, who is me, just 15 years ago. He told me his first full paycheck should be coming next week, so he is expecting to be able to again provide food for his family without this program very soon. When he does leave, I’ll miss him.

Many of you have asked me to keep naming the top needed items. Thank you for that. Size 6 diapers are the most popular thing we provide. Our supply has been strong, but it goes so very fast. That is at the top of the need list. Next comes TP and paper towels.

The sun is shining! What a lovely evening in Bellevue right now. Thank you for another wonderful day in this ‘Groceries for Families’ program. May you be with people you love tonight.

Blessings to you all,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 7/9/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 7/9/20

Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 4

Today began with light rain but quickly gave way to a dry day, with the sun coming through the late afternoon. For the grocery operation, it was an ideal weather day. The flow of the day was nice, too. The morning was busy with a steady flow of incoming groceries and other deliveries. Families came all afternoon, keeping us all busy. Another very nice day.

Today began with light rain but quickly gave way to a dry day, with the sun coming through the late afternoon. For the grocery operation, it was an ideal weather day. The flow of the day was nice, too. The morning was busy with a steady flow on incoming groceries and other deliveries. Families came all afternoon, keeping us all busy. Another very nice day.

Groceries today came from Sacred Heart, Kalos, Overlake Park Presbyterian, Redeemer, Bellevue Presbyterian, First United Methodist, and Doxa churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 172 orders came in and all but 7 went out to families, although we delayed 32 deliveries until the morning due to scheduling. Thursdays are always interesting with so many different groups dropping off. It’s fun to talk with different people all morning long. Thank you to everyone who participated today.

A few of the crew drove the Jubilee truck to a farm in Woodinville this morning, which is distributing food as part of the federal government programs.

They returned with multiple pallets of apples, potatoes, yellow onions, and red onions. All of these will be offered as extra every day until they are gone.

This is the third such load we’ve received, and it is wonderful to have it available daily. A picture to the right of the crew unloading.

After not having a market Monday and Tuesday this week, it has been very full yesterday and today.

Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables have come in, plus the cheese described in yesterday’s email. Today we actually had some children’s clothing available, which was very popular.

Thanks to everyone who continues to bring these extra items.

The food truck is going tonight until 7pm. The cusine is Cubano-Mexican. The pork fluffy tacos are particularly good. Come if you can!

A note from Hannah, normally a Jubilee REACH Site Coach at Stevenson Elementary, working on the grocery crew. She handles about 10 deliveries twice a week to homes in the community.:

“When I first started delivering, I did not see or interact with too many families. Occasionally I would see someone wave from their doorstep, but most of the time I would just drop off the groceries and leave.

A few weeks into delivering, I was on my final house, and as I was on my way back to my car I heard a “thank you!” When I turned around, I saw a tiny face sticking out of the door. The family’s son (probably only 4 years old) was the one who opened the door that day. Every delivery after that, my “little friend” was always the one to answer the door and shout his sweet little “thank you!”

Delivering can get slightly repetitive, driving the same streets and seeing the same things, but every time I knew I could look forward to ending my route seeing my little friend and knowing he was just as excited too. “

A number of you have asked recently about helping some of the families in unique situations with gas cards. The best place we’ve found is Safeway, as it is close to Jubilee, has gas there, and is a known brand to everyone. If you drop them by with a personal encouraging note written to a general family, we’d be happy to pass them along when the need arises.

Thursday (day 94) has come and gone. It’s amazing how quickly the week moves along. Thank you for all the love poured into this community today through this program. Together, we are helping our neighbors.

Blessings to you all,

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

Jubilee REACH Communications 7/8/20 Jubilee REACH Communications 7/8/20

Groceries for Families: Week 16 - Day 3

Halfway through the week and things are rolling along smoothly. The last three days, today included, have been great with lots of action here at Jubilee. Today, the weather cooperated very nicely. The morning was overcast and warm enough. The sun came out at 12:30pm, just in time for the afternoon opening for families. We had to hustle to get the canopies up for some shade.

Groceries today came from Bellevue Presbyterian, Highland Covenant, St. Louise, and Bellevue Christian Reformed churches, as well as the Jubilee Friends group. A total of 182 orders came in and all went out to families today. It was a busy morning, with lots of grocery deliveries and a number of hygiene/bulk deliveries, too. Thank you to everyone who participated today.

Fresh produce is showing up at Jubilee multiple times during the week. Today, a lovely assortment of fresh greens & veggies came from Holy Cross Lutheran Church near Factoria.

Another batch came from the Master Gardener in Lake Hills. Honestly, it still smelled like the earth. Wow! It added such a nice addition to the market today. Thank you! Keep growing!

A special delivery came from GOOD PLANeT Foods today, which makes plant-based cheese products. The CEO, David Israel, delivered a large assortment of shredded cheese, sliced cheese, and cream cheese. It was extremely popular in the market today and will go out again in tomorrow’s market. Thank you, David!

Today was the last day for families to receive hygiene items this week.

The pantry for some items is quite bare after three days of passing them out. Paper towels are at an inventory of zero.

Thank you to everyone who filled the pantry to make this week possible. Thanks in advance to those who will give in the coming days to fill it back up.

The food truck will return tomorrow night, Thursday, from 4-7pm. Returning is the very popular Cubano-Mexican truck. Plan to come for dinner, if you can.

A few updates from Ken:

A number of you have asked about the young boy, who had a seizure recently. His mom was here today, arriving very late in the afternoon. She told me he is stable right now and hasn’t had any new episodes recently. They are continuing to work closely with Children’s Hospital to run tests, but nothing has been discovered yet. She knows I’ve shared their story on this email, and I reminded her there are many people praying for them. A gas card donation was provided by one of you to help with the travel costs, which I gave to her today. She is very thankful for all the support. Keep them in your prayers. I’ll continue to update you.
I can also update you on the wife, whose husband is getting radiation for a returned brain tumor. He goes to Overlake every day for treatment and has about 13 remaining. He is in some pain but Tylenol is enough to help most days. I asked her how she is doing. She said she is very tired and cries nearly anytime she is alone. She stays strong around her husband and 15-year-old daughter. I asked about her daughter. She said she is fine but seems to have distanced herself from her father, for some reason. It is perplexing to her. She shared a bit of their history. They were married in Iran and are a religious minority and were persecuted. They fled to Turkey in 2007 when their daughter was 2. Through a UN program, they reached the United States. She didn’t speak any English so enrolled in classes at Bellevue College, while her husband worked. She started pursuing a Bachelors degree in 2017 but had to stop it when her husband’s first brain tumor was discovered. She hopes to go back one day. A gift card to cover gas costs was also provided by one of you, so she received that today. She knows many people are praying for them and is very grateful.

Thank you for another special day. The sun is shining as this email goes out. While it may not yet be summer temperatures, the sunshine sure makes it feel nice.

Have a lovely evening, wherever you are.

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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