Government shutdown strains Louisville families, military and food assistance programs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- With no end in sight for the government shutdown, some in Louisville are turning to food banks for assistance for the first time.

One West End food pantry is stepping up to take care families left without paychecks until the stalemate in Washington, D.C. is over.

Debra Mason said she would be "kind of desperate" if Sister Visitor Center didn't exist. The emergency assistance program and pantry offers food and financial assistance to Louisville residents in need.

Mason relies on the food pantry to feed her cat, Garfield. She found him on the street 11 years ago, and now she can't imagine life without Garfield.

However, Mason said sometimes filling his bowl while also paying the bills and putting food on her own plate is a little tough. She recalls when he ran out of food a few weeks ago.

"It was really sad," Mason said. "He doesn't have any cat food, and he needs litter."

Laura Williams started the pet portion of the pantry after she learned some clients gave their food to their dogs and cats including "tuna, mashed potatoes or even a can of roast beef."

Right now, Sister Visitor Center has roughly 44,000 pounds of dog food, cat food, treats, vitamin and various other pet supplies.

"We serve Portland, Shawnee, Russell, all the surrounding areas," Williams said. "We are making sure that their pets eat well."

Williams said roughly 40% of the people who come in to the food pantry swing by the pet area each day. Currently, Sister Visitor Center averages 72-80 people daily.

"It's not a lot of help out here anymore," volunteer Nakeisha Peppers said. "For people to come and be able to come to one place where they can get everything all at once, that's good."

Federal workers & military

This comes at a time when many in the Louisville community need help the most. Friday's paycheck will be smaller for a lot of federal workers, and it could be the last one they get for a while.

Active duty military will go without pay if the shutdown continues past Wednesday, October 15.

In the past, Congress passed legislation to ensure most military members kept earning their salaries. This includes the longest government shutdown in U.S. history in 2018.

The current shutdown is expected to extend into mid-October, after the Senate took its final vote of the week Thursday night.

WIC programs impacted

If Congress doesn't resolve the government shutdown soon, funding for federal nutrition programs could also dry up. For example, national officials with the Women, Infants and Children program, often called WIC, said it could run out of money within a week or two.

If that funding stops rolling in, Williams wants everyone to know they're welcome to visit the pantry, whether they need body wash or bread.

"I want them to feel like this is their grocery store," Williams said. "You can do a big monthly shop, as well as small weekly shops, but every time you come you can pick up pet supplies."

Veterans Affairs employees

Active military members are not the only ones seeing the effects of this shutdown. Roughly 97% of Department of Veterans Affairs employees continue to work without pay.

Here's a breakdown of VA Contingency Planning:

VA Medical Centers, Outpatient Clinics, and Vet Centers will be open as usual and providing all services.
VA benefits will continue to be processed and delivered, including compensation, pension, education, and housing benefits.
Burials will continue at VA national cemeteries. Applications for headstones, markers, and burial benefits processing will continue.
The Board of Veterans’ Appeals will continue decisions on Veterans’ cases.
Call Centers:
- VA’s primary call center (1-800-MyVA411) and the Veterans Crisis Line (Dial 988, Press 1) will remain open 24/7.
- The VA Benefit Hotline (1-800-827-1000) will be available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET.
- The National Cemetery Scheduling Office (1-800-535-1117) (TTY:711)) will be available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET, and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET, to schedule burials.
Suicide prevention programs, homelessness services, and caregiver support will continue.
VA will cease providing transition program assistance and career counseling.
- Call Centers: VA’s GI Bill (1-888-GIBILL-1) hotline and Memorial Products Applicant Assistance (1-800-697-6947) unit will be closed.
- VA benefits regional offices will be closed.
- Public Affairs and unfunded outreach to Veterans will cease, including social media, VetResources emails, and responses to press inquiries.
- No grounds maintenance or placement of permanent headstones at VA cemeteries.
- Applications for pre-need burial at VA cemeteries will not be processed.
- No printing of new Presidential Memorial Certificates.
- No outreach to state, county, tribal, municipal, faith-based, and community-based partners by VA Central Office.

WDRB also reached out UPS Friday morning to see if its experiencing any issues with air traffic controllers calling out and impacting flights landing in Louisville. Officials said there is "no impact" and that UPS is "operating normally" at this time.

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