Govt Shutdown Impacting Local Military Families

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I joined now for a few minutes by Shannon Howard,

(00:03):
who is very well connected with everything that happens all
the personnel, military members and other employees at off At
Air Force Base and is the wife of former fifty
fifth Wing, the wing commander there and as a big
airman's attic supporter. And I was wondering, how because we
mentioned the other day about the food donation drive for

(00:26):
this past weekend and the diaper drive coming up this weekend,
I wonder how everything is going for our folks there
at off with Shannon, Good morning, Great to have you on.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
So what do we need to know here? What are
you seeing relative to paychecks not arriving and military families
and others being impacted by it?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Sure, so we already have an issue with a lot
of military families being able to afford basic basic items,
so we have a food pantry open for them. But
with the shutdown and all the uncertainty, it's put just
further impact on military families, federal workers, and there's some

(01:15):
furloughed employees from off It. So the food drives have
been phenomenal because we are able to restock the shelves
and keep it going because now is a critical time
where people don't know whether they're going to get their paycheck.
Many are certainly not going to get a paycheck, and

(01:36):
it's having this access to food just it's just one
less thing to be stressed out about, so they can,
you know, not have to worry about where they're going
to be able to afford, you know, food because they
literally don't have income.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
What is precisely, or as precisely as you can tell us, Yanna,
what is a situation regarding paychecks? Because we first heard
that the first do paychecks mid month would not arrive,
and then I heard there was something about, well some
of them are arriving. What is the situation exactly?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
So I'm uncertain about that too, But that's part of
the problem, that there's just uncertainty. So I'm actually a
federal worker who have been told that I will not
get a paycheck. I don't know. The military did get paid,
at least I did get paid for the first of
the month, but we just don't know, and again that's

(02:34):
part of the problem. I fortunately have an emergency fund
that I can dip into, but many military families don't,
and so they are left with literally no income.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
And many are basically months to months to begin with, right,
so it's hard for them to put money away. But
the response tell me about the response to the drive
this past.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Weekend, Oh amazing. So I was at the Platsmouth hy
Vey on Saturday and the amount of support that we
got from cast donations to food item donations was phenomenal.
We just from one day of food actual food donated.

(03:21):
We re stocked the shelves at the pantry.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Great and now the drive this coming weekend. I'm sure
this food is still welcome, but this is primarily for
the families with young kids, right.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Correct, Correct again with the uncertainty and not having an income. Uh,
many military, young military families that the Airman's attic in
the in the pantry support have children young children, and
as you know, diapers are insanely expensive in wipes and
a necessity that they may not be able to afford

(03:55):
in general. But now the shutdown, it's it's it's even yeah,
more critical, but they have these access to this.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
You may have some anecdotal information on this, Shannon, but
I wonder for house payments and rent, do landlords tend
to be a little more lenient in a situation like this,
given that these people are wearing our country's uniform and
that they have no control over the income.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Stream, I think that's probably a case by case thing.
I don't know the answer to that. I know that
there's on the flip side of that, you have a
lot of military families who are landlords who are also
not getting paid. Sure, so you kind of have a
double whammy like they need that, they need them to pay,
but they can't pay because they're also like being paid.

(04:46):
So I think it's probably a case by case situation.
I would I would hope, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Okay, just before we run here, what can people do?
Obviously the diaper and baby wipe drive is great this weekend,
folks want to continue to contribute to either a fund
or or food stuffs. Are the hive? Are the high
ves still open to that or can they bring them
to the base or what?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Of course, so they can bring it to well, they
have to have base access, so that might be a
little bit tricky there. If you on Facebook, off it
Airman's attic would be a great place to message if
you want to send a direct donation to them. But
this weekend Hive is doing the diaper drive, but yes

(05:30):
we will absolutely welcome food. Cash donations are always great.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, awesome, Shannam. Thanks appreciate it very much.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely take care of have a good gas