As the federal government shutdown enters its fourth week, hundreds of federal employees in Washington D.C are turning to food banks for help bringing home fresh groceries.
On Friday, the Capital Area Food Bank partnered with Urban Outreach, a nonprofit based in Southeast Washington, to distribute boxes of fresh produce and hygiene products to furloughed federal workers and contractors.
Urban Outreach is one of five sites the food bank supports across the D.C. region currently helping government employees.
“We do food distributions weekly, but this is an additional one that we’re doing specifically for them, just to give them a little bit of hope and let them know somebody does care,” said Rev. Wil Stroman, executive director of Urban Outreach.
Abby Fenton, chief advancement officer at the Capital Area Food Bank, said each family receives a box of groceries and a box of produce. For some, this is the first time they ask for food assistance.
“I think some people, this is their first time ever having to do something like this,” said Fenton. “So, we’re trying to make sure, with our partners’ help, we’re doing it with dignity and we’re treating them with respect and we’re making it easy for them.”
The Capital Area Food Bank, says its most recent hunger report found that 36 percent of households in the D.C. region face some level of food insecurity. Fenton said those numbers are likely to rise as the shutdown drags on.
“It is impacting us, and if it continues, of course, it will put a big pressure on us to keep up with it,” said Fenton.
Volunteer Quinnae Higginbotham says Urban Outreach will continue to provide fresh groceries to help federal workers even after the government reopens.
“We’re not going to stop immediately when employees go back into the office because guess what, they don’t get to check tomorrow,” said Higginbotham. “Pastor Wil, he’s going to to extend that until he sees that they can go ahead and they’ll be okay without the extra supplies that we have to give.”
For Stroman, the mission extends beyond emergency relief.
“You may have lost a paycheck, but there’s still hope,” he said. “We’re going to keep showing up until things get better.”
