Helping Bay Area federal workers Helping Bay Area federal workers

Many furloughed federal workers will miss their first paycheck on Friday, but Feeding Tampa Bay has a plan in place to help. FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy reports.

TAMPA, Fla – Friday marks day 24 of the government shutdown, and many federal employees will miss their first full paycheck.

What we know:

The Senate rejected competing bills to pay federal workers during the shutdown Thursday, and both sides blamed each other.

Feeding Tampa Bay started a program dedicated to helping federal workers during the shutdown. Its working with other local groups to expand their capacity.

The nonprofit has set up a helpline to connect those affected to groceries, personal care supplies, financial resources, emotional support services and more.

“We’re adding programs and adding times,” explained Shannon Hannon Oliviero, director of public affairs for Feeding Tampa Bay. 

Dig deeper:

“We have over 300 additional people coming in from the government shutdown this weekend, so we need volunteers and then, every dollar equals five meals to us,” she said.

She says they’re also concerned about the threat of SNAP benefits getting suspended in November.

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“There are 250,000 households that depend on SNAP, so we’re preparing as well as we can, but we really need the community’s help,” Hannon Oliviero said.

Feeding Tampa Bay also has dedicated services and times for anyone impacted by the shutdown.

What they’re saying:

“I think we were preparing before the shutdown,” Thomas Mantz, Feeding Tampa Bay President and CEO, said. “As an organization, we’ve been through pandemics and hurricanes and shutdowns, and so, we know how to do this, but for everybody that comes into our care, we need to make sure that we have a good resource mix of services set up,” he said.

“Then the other thing to think about is, folks are going to be without income for some time. They don’t get hold the day they get a paycheck. That will take some time as well. So, we’ll make sure there’s care after this. And so, from our perspective, it is a longer-term relationship than probably they would have wanted, but it’s important for us to make sure that it’s available,” Mantz said. 

The shutdown helpline is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The number is 813-710-9003.

The Source: This story was written with information provided by Feeding Tampa Bay and gathered by Kailey Tracy.

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