“We do care,” said Dan Stoney, manager of Intermission Deli in Saginaw and one of several restaurant owners in the Great Lakes Bay Region who recently donated lunches to federal workers at MBS International Airport in Freeland.
That sentiment toward federal airport employees is being shared by dozens of volunteers, restaurants and small businesses across the Tri-Cities who are working together to provide food, snacks, gas cards and supplies during the government shutdown.
Federal workers at MBS have been working without pay since the start of the shutdown, which began Oct. 1 — 36 days ago.
“If you don’t have a paycheck, how do you buy gas?” said Thomas Roy of Saginaw, a small-business owner who has been leading the grassroots effort to collect food and supply donations for airport employees.
“We had an anonymous person donate 30 $20 gas cards, and the TSA and air traffic controllers were very excited about it,” Roy said.
Roy, along with several other volunteers, is coordinating outreach to local businesses and soup kitchens for lunch donations and deliveries to MBS. This is the second time Roy has organized help for MBS workers. During the previous government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, he also collected and delivered donations.
“It takes a lot of pressure off the employees,” Roy said. “You don’t want a bunch of TSA or air traffic controllers to worry about eating.”
The effort began ramping up late last week with a new goal: delivering 30 lunches to the airport every day.
MBS is home to 48 federal employees, according to Airport Director James Canders. Most work for the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration as air traffic controllers and technicians.
Along with Intermission Deli, the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw, Old City Hall in Bay City and T&T Tacos in Saginaw have also donated lunches or signed up to do so in the coming days.
“Everyone’s got to look out for one another,” Stoney said, who donated several party trays of sub sandwiches. “All the small businesses in the area — we all like to help each other out.”
Small businesses aren’t the only ones donating. Community and volunteer groups have also been dropping off supplies. Canders said in a phone interview with WCMU that enough donations were delivered Tuesday afternoon “to fill a small single-stall garage.”
“It’s really quite amazing,” Canders said. “I’m very lucky to have great federal employees here at the airport. They understand what’s been going on — it’s happened before — but they’re still dedicated and doing what they need to do.”
People in the Great Lakes Bay Region who are interested in donating lunches or supplies for MBS federal employees can contact Roy directly at 989-239-4479.
“People need to know that it’s a good thing to help people,” Roy said.
