Furloughed Grand Canyon workers struggle to feed their families

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Salon

Tuesday, Oct 8, 2013 03:11 PM CDT
Furloughed Grand Canyon workers struggle to feed their families

An Arizona food bank will be delivering meals for the remainder of the shutdown
By Lindsay Abrams

Were it any other October, about 18,000 visitors would be descending upon the Grand Canyon each day. But while the closing of national parks for the duration of the government shutdown is a bummer for tourists, the consequences for the government workers usually employed there are more urgent than the need to reschedule a family vacation at the last minute.

According to local aid agencies, many of the 2,200 federal and private employees who keep the Grand Canyon National Park running live paycheck-to-paycheck. As the shutdown enters its second week, an Arizona food bank is bringing over 600 boxes of food to the park. The Associated Press reports:

St. Mary’s (Food Bank) is trucking food boxes from Phoenix to the small community of Tusayan near the canyon’s south rim, and then to a location inside the park for distribution Tuesday and Wednesday at a cafeteria and at a mobile pantry on Friday.

The food bank said it will continue weekly distributions as long as the shutdown lasts.
The Rev. Patrick Dobson, pastor of Grand Canyon Community Church, normally distributes donated food from his home, but he said local food donations aren’t enough to meet the current need.


Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/10/08/furloughed_grand_canyon_workers_struggle_to_feed_their_families/

[Bluestar]

1. And good old Jan Brewer has suspended both unemployment and welfare

in the state of Arizona. Despicable.

[gussmith]

2. Get Real

No federal worker is paid weekly, the extent of the shut down so far. Monthly payments are the norm so there is no new reason not to have money.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. Enjoy your stay. nt

[gopiscrap]

13. Ditto

[happyslug]

6. Most of the workers most affected are employees of contractors.

The Federal Government had embraced contracting out most jobs since at least Reagan's administration. Jobs like Janitor, Garbage collector etc are contracted out and thus NOT Federal Employees. Most of these employees are paid weekly and given the budget, their employees did not received their money to perform these contracted out duties and have laid off their employees. This is the group hurting today, actual Federal Employees will start hurting later on in the month, depending if their are paid bi-weekly (many are, for example Postal Employees, through Postal Employees are NOT affected by this budget problem), twice a month and others once a month (Mostly higher paid employees).

The problem today are these employees of Federal Contractors, not the actual Federal employees, but the Federal Employees will be hurting soon, and many are hurting now waiting to see if they will get paid.

[Ash_F]

8. Oh my. Member since 2009

I always thought it was ironic how Democraticunderground was less right wing during the Bush years.

[sakabatou]

14. Enjoy your stay

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. paycheck-to-paycheck does not equal "weekly"

.
.
.

And to the best of my knowledge, most employers at least pay bi-weekly -

I've worked for over 40 years - never had an employer pay me by the month,

always weekly or bi-weekly.

CC

[seveneyes]

3. a location inside the park for distribution

I don't understand how taking food into a closed park accomplishes anything for anyone. Wouldn't it make better sense to have it delivered to where people are allowed to get to it?

[happyslug]

7. We are talking about people residing in the part perfroming various duties within the park

Last edited Wed Oct 9, 2013, 04:28 PM - Edit history (1)

Some of these people have limited transportations options (i.e. they do NOT have cars). For others it is a LONG drive to a supermarket, and you save FUEL by going someplace closer.

[seveneyes]

9. I had the wrong picture in mind

I envisioned a closed park with a gate across it and nobody in there. I guess closed doesn't mean closed for everyone.

[happyslug]

16. A lot of Federal Parks are almost impossible to closed down.

Some parks have no Rangers or other people in them at any time. For example I ride the "Path of the Flood" trail in Johnstown Pa (the trail gets its name for it goes along the Little Conemaugh River. The dam that broke and hit Johnstown, was on the South Fork Branch of the Little Conemaugh River. When the Dam broke, it followed the South Fork Branch to South Fork PA then to Mineral Point PA, then to Franklin PA and onto Johnstown proper, where it finally hit an area without steep mountain sides on both side of the River to hold the water in).

Anyway, as I ride on that trail, the part from Incline #1 (Which is an old incline plane between Franklin and Mineral Point PA, it was the first incline of ten on the 1834 Portage railway between Altoona and Johnstown). through the Staple Bend Tunnel to Mineral Point is Federal Park land. This is 2 miles of trail between the Trail from Johnstown to Franklin to Incline #1 AND the trail on the Southern Cambria Railway line from Minimal point to South Fork.

I mention that Federal Park for I have NEVER seen a Ranger or other Federal Employee on duty but it remains open to the Public for the simple reason it is almost impossible to close off.

Now the above Park is in the Appalachian mountains, if you go out west, population is much lower and the parks are much larger. Here is a cite for Yellowstone showing the workers in Yellowstone for the various Contractors:

http://www.secretyellowstone.com/basic-park-information/working-in-yellowstone

Most concessioners provide some form of housing for their itinerant or seasonal employees. These typically consist of dormitories, with rooms shared by two or three people. Some dorms have rooms with incorporated bathroom facilities, while some (mostly older) have communal shower and bathroom facilities. Many of the dorms have a community room with a television, microwave, etc. There is no cooking in individual rooms, and all housing is non-smoking. Most dorms now have Wi-Fi Internet access, and most have laundry facilities. There is a limited amount of rooms/cabins available for married couples as well. The only exception to these are for those who work in the Roosevelt area – housing for this area is in rustic cabins that, while they have electricity, lack running water (bathroom and shower facilities are located a short walk away).

[daleo]

11. A NASA website was down today because of the shutdown

Sad and symbolic.

[llmart]

12. "I know how hard it is to put food on your family"

Bush showing his enormous empathy for hungry families.

Lack of empathy is a requirement nowadays to be a member of the Repugnant party.