Carmela Burns had a list of how many federal workers have been helped this month at the SOS Food Pantry in Marysville. A few hours…
Carmela Burns had a list of how many federal workers have been helped this month at the SOS Food Pantry in Marysville.
A few hours before President Donald Trump announced a deal ending the government shutdown through Feb. 15, she recounted the $2,000 donation spent at Meijer the week before to pick up groceries for them.
By then, SOS had helped 37 Customs employees, 29 Border Patrol, five Coast Guard, four Transportation Security Administration and one FBI employee.
“They’ll call my cell phone and I’ll come here,” Burns said. The wife of a former Border Patrol agent, she was keeping the pantry open outside of its normal hours just for federal workers. “Their schedule is very weird. We had a U. S. Coast Guard come in (who) just transferred from Alaska and (has) no family members. Then they got hit with this. They had to (stop) crying. They have my personal number. I told them, call me any time they need help.”
But it wasn’t just the food pantry that had made a promise to federal workers.
The city of Marysville was one of several communities across St. Clair County that announced it’d waive fees and penalties on utility bills — a promise officials said Friday that they’re keeping — for those who were affected by the shutdown.
“There’s still a hardship there,” Marysville City Manager Randy Fernandez said after Trump’s address. The city announced penalties for water, sewer and refuse bills for federal employees would be waived on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Mayor Dan Damman said they also considered other ways they could help out-of-work feds — without outright spending taxpayer money.
“The city is very limited on how it can aid those affected by the federal government shutdown,” Damman said. “Marysville is home to a United States Border Patrol facility right there on M-29. Beyond that, we do have federal employees that are residents to the city. So, one of the things that I had asked Randy to look into (was) the legality of giving some golf passes with Meijer or gas cards.… The thought would be if somebody comes in — they don’t have to be a resident — and drops off a gas card or Meijer gift card with at least $20 on it.”
Fort Gratiot Supervisor Jorja Baldwin said it was a matter of helping federal employees balance the choice of “whether to buy food or a pay a water bill.
