Government shutdown impacts Akron family

With news that the government shutdown reopened for three weeks, families and federal workers have high hopes for a complete shutdown in the future, but anxiety and stress still overwhelms the community relying on government assistance.

Dan Flowers, president and CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, opened and provided a food pantry to federal employees Friday Jan. 25 at the Akron-Canton Airport due to the government shutdown. “We specifically set this up for people who were missing meals or people who were missing paychecks,” Flowers said. “These government workers, they didn’t choose this for themselves, so it’s not like they’re at fault.

Flowers said the poverty rate has ran between 10-14 percent for a long time, and consistently their foodbanks serve about that much of the population.

“I think the shutdown made a lot of people, and us as a society, aware of how close we all live to the line,” Flowers said. He said it’s easy for people to get caught in a daily routine and think they’re more secure than they are, not realizing whether they lay close to the line. “People are never too far off for poverty.”

“You never know what assistance people might need in situations like this,” Flowers said, “so we do ask anyone who is concerned about their food insecurity to reach out to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.”

 The government shutdown has not only affected federal workers, but those relying on food stamps and government housing as well.

 Robyn Bryant, a single mother of a disabled child, depends on food stamps and government housing for her and her daughter’s survival. 

Bryant knew difficulties were coming with the government shutdown. She was told by a jobs and family worker that they would not receive anything in February or in the future if the government shutdown did not end by March.

“No parent should have to worry about how they are going to feed or house their child,” Bryant said. “It’s very scary not knowing what’s going to happen.”

 Bryant hopes the shutdown will reopen officially soon for the sake of her family.

“The SNAP program is a vital safety net, and it’s a big program for a lot of people affected,” Flowers said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty with the SNAP program as a result of the shutdown and it created a lot of anxiety for people.”

Flowers said he hasn’t heard any reports on rushes to the food pantries and that if the food stamp program would have been affected by the shutdown, they would have seen that.

 “With the shutdown, we’ve been focusing on telling people how to get help because a lot of times these workers have never had to go to a food pantry before or try to get SNAP benefits or some other benefit like that,” Flowers said.

With the government reopened for three weeks, there’s hope for a complete shutdown in the future, but there is always the chance of the government shutdown will continue after the three weeks.

“The shutdown has gone on long enough to where federal workers have gone to food pantries,” Flowers said. “If the government shutdown starts back up again, we’ll be right back in that position.”

The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank is concerned about what’s happening and haven’t yet been overwhelmed. “We’re here because the community supports us,” Flowers said.

The Foodbank is funded through donations by the community and is always open to donations to help better the lives of many.

Broadcast: Caty Payette

Print: Shelbie Goulding