((PKG)) FURLOUGHED EMPLOYEES
((Banner: Feeding the Feds))
((Reporters: Gabrielle Weiss, Mykhailo Komadovsky))
((Camera: Gabrielle Weiss, Randall Taylor, Philip Alexiou, Sashko Danylenko))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS)) Shutdown.
Oh, oh end, oh the shutdown.
Oh, oh end, yeah, ain’t it right?
Oh the shutdown, the shutdown.
((Banner: During the partial US government shutdown, chef and humanitarian Jose Andres has been offering free meals to government employees))
((NATS)) ((NATE MOOK, Executive Director, World Central Kitchen)) We’re a privately funded, non-profit organization and we have an emergency relief fund from which we operate. So that enables us to respond to disasters, that’s earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires in California. And this right now is a disaster. People are really hurting. At the end of the day, a plate of food is a plate of food, and whether you are impacted by a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, you know, it’s the same to us.
((NATS)) ((DARREN JAFFE, Employee, U.S. Department of Transportation))
I’m a furloughed federal employee and I’m not being paid, and we still have regular bills to pay and everything. I just applied, I applied for unemployment but that hasn’t kicked in yet and we’re living on my wife’s paycheck right now so it’s tight. So, I thought this would be a good way to save some money. Last week, I went to some of Jose Andres’ other restaurants for the free sandwiches. So, I think it’s a great idea what he’s doing to help out the federal employees who are kind of caught in the middle of all this political arguing. ((NATS)) ((FURLOUGHED GOVERNMENT WORKER)) I guess it’s a rude awakening to wake up and know that you don’t have a job to go to and that you’re not getting paid while the government is shut down.
((NATS)) ((OFFICER WILLIAMS, U.S. Park Police)) Just taking advantage of the free food, the free coffee they had to offer. We take care of a lot of the law enforcement duties right here in the city. We ride horses in those areas, National Parks and so, in reference to the furlough itself, you know we just have to be economical as far as our feeding, how much we’re feeding the horses. I’m not sure if they’re going to clear funds for essential things such as horse feed and things like that. But, we’ll have to do something if this goes longer than a month.
((NATS))
So darling, darling, end the shutdown.
Oh, oh end….
