1/17/19
Adrienne Walker, a TSA employee in Atlanta, said her pantry is stocked, even though she has been working without pay during the partial government shutdown. But she knows her colleagues with children need groceries more than she does. Walker hoped the box of produce, canned goods and other groceries she left a Georgia food pantry with on Wednesday would help fellow employees at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Walker, a board member of the union representing Georgia's TSA employees, said she was willing to give employees rides to the food pantry in Conyers. With the shutdown in its fourth week, furloughed federal employees struggling to cope with life without a paycheck are turning to food banks and food pantries to feed their families, according to several organizations across the country. Calls from anxious workers have poured into agencies, and some of them are bracing for what they expect will be an increased demand for food at a time when donations are typically low. Some organizations are already seeing a spike. Over the past two weeks, more than 280 federal employees have used a food bank that Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah operates, which is a 50% increase over the 566 regular clients who used services during that time, according to the organization's director, Maresha Bosgieter.
From large to small efforts, others have also stepped up to feed employees affected by the shutdown. Restaurants across the country fed government employees last week. This week, renowned chef José Andrés opened a pop-up kitchen in the nation's capitol to feed federal employees and contractors, CNN affiliate WJLA reported. Andrés and his nonprofit served millions of free meals after natural disasters, including Hurricane Maria and the California wildfires. The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, which distributes millions of food and groceries every year to more than 900 soup kitchens, shelters and food pantries, started a federal shutdown food assistance program to serve 25,000 federal employees, according to Feeding America, a hunger relief organization. Kraft said it planned to open a pop-up grocery store in Washington DC on Wednesday to support a program aimed at helping federal workers during the shutdown.
At some food pantries, furloughed workers have left with more than just food, but direction and peace.
