What began as a loosely organized effort two weeks ago to provide meals for federal security screeners at the state's largest airport has quickly become a community-wide response to their plight as they approach a month without pay because of the partial government shutdown.
Unless President Donald Trump's administration and Congress reach a deal by Tuesday, the 110 U.S. Transportation Security Administration screeners at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field will be among the 55,000 screeners nationwide who will go without their second paycheck in what has become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Another 100 screeners at airports in Northwest Arkansas, Fort Smith and Texarkana also are working without pay during the shutdown, which began Dec. 22. Other federal airport employees working without pay include about three dozen air traffic controllers employed by the Federal Aviation Administration at the Little Rock and Fort Smith airports and two Customs and Border Protection agents assigned to Clinton National.
"Little Rock, unlike a lot of communities, we're not experiencing the long lines," said Capi Peck, a Little Rock city director who, as chef/owner of Trio's restaurant, is helping organize restaurants to provide meals. "[The screeners] are showing up, they are doing their jobs, people are grateful and thankful. But we need to just do more than just thank them."
The effort to help the Clinton National screeners began about two weeks ago with employees from the airport and Southwest and Delta airlines taking turns providing meals, including free breakfasts at an airport restaurant operated by HMSHost, the airport's food and beverage concessionaire.
The endeavor reflected the close-knit community at the airport, which has 3,500 employees -- the size of a small town -- many of whom work side by side with the screeners to help the airport, said Shane Carter, the airport's public and government affairs director. The inclination to help also reflected, he said, the admiration many nonfederal employees felt for the screeners' dedication.
Southwest employees this week cooked 100 baked potatoes and provided a potato bar for TSA employees. Delta employees agreed to provide Saturday lunches to augment the airport staff's contribution.
But it wasn't enough, and airport staff appealed for help outside the airport. Carter spoke of the problem Thursday before about 60 members of Leadership Greater Little Rock, a leadership training arm of the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber officials took it from there, paying for Friday's lunch for screeners -- 100 lunches worth $1,000 from a Newk's restaurant.
Peck put the word out to her fellow restaurateurs Thursday afternoon. The response overwhelmed, not just from restaurant owners but her wider circle of friends who volunteered to donate, deliver or put together gift bags, she said.
"It's kind of restored my faith in humanity that people have answered the call for help in an unbelievable way," Peck said. "In less than 24 hours, I've almost covered two weeks of meals," Peck said. "It just about makes me cry."
Rabbi Barry Block of Congregation B'nai Israel said he modeled his gift-card initiative after one developed by the Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga, Tenn.
"Like ... millions of Americans I am deeply moved by the plight of TSA agents and hundreds of thousands of other federal employees who are living without their paychecks," Block said.
He said he focused on the screeners because, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, their annual salary is slightly more than $40,000, which he said is "not an income on which one could particularly save very much, especially if one has a family."
Block also called the lack of absenteeism at Clinton National -- a problem at some larger airports -- "extraordinarily commendable" and praised the screeners for their professionalism despite working without pay.
"I haven't traveled by air during the shutdown," he said. "People who have have told me they've been greeted by smiles and positive attitudes by the TSA agents."
Block said the goal of his congregation of 330 households is to raise $5,000 for the gift cards.
Clinton National also will accept gift cards from area merchants. They can be dropped off at the airport's customer service desk on the second floor near the passenger screening bays through Tuesday, Carter said.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, the Arkansas Food Bank, churches and "hopefully a lot of citizens" are mobilizing a food drive that will take place next week, said Kathy Webb, the executive director of the alliance and also a city director.
Details are still being worked out, including securing drop off points, obtaining bins and developing a list of nonperishable food items for pets as well as people, and some nonfood items. They will be distributed the following week and available to all furloughed federal workers.
Webb compared the event to a natural disaster.
"It's an unexpected disaster," she said. "It shows the vulnerability that we all face when paychecks are interrupted. One main difference is that in a tornado or flooding or hurricanes, we've been able to rely on the federal government for disaster [food] assistance. Obviously, something like that is not an option."
Other organizations also are providing assistance. Entergy Arkansas, Central Arkansas Water and the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority will work with furloughed federal workers on utility bills.
The Little Rock School District announced Friday that district families affected by the federal government shutdown can apply for its free and reduced-price meal program for students. Families who wouldn't ordinarily qualify may be eligible because of the loss of income, the district said.
Families can apply online at http://myschoolapps.com or by calling the district's nutrition department at 447-2456.
Screeners at other airports are also receiving aid. The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank took its mobile pantry to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport on Friday to support TSA workers and any other affected federal employees.
Cherry Hooten, who represents TSA workers at the airport, said the shutdown has affected 68 employees. One is on furlough and the other 67 are working but aren't being paid, Hooten said.
"It's a stress reliever, we don't really have to worry about where our next meal is coming from and we're putting money elsewhere, putting it toward our utilities or rent instead of trying to figure out how to get groceries," Hooten said.
Hooten said the TSA workers are focused on continuing to do their jobs.
"We haven't had anybody calling out sick, everybody's showing up," Hooten said. "It does affect the morale a little bit just having to worry about where the money's coming from. So the food, it's just a godsend."
Food bank officials said they served 45 families from TSA, Department of Interior, and other federal agencies Friday.
Most TSA screeners contacted in and around Clinton National on Friday declined to comment, citing orders from their managers not to speak with reporters.
One screener who agreed to speak declined to provide his name. He chatted shortly after noon on Friday as he walked to his vehicle after wrapping up a shift that began before 4 a.m.
He called the outpouring of community support "outstanding."
"We greatly appreciate it -- we really do," he said. "This shouldn't be necessary, but the way things are, unfortunately, it is."
The aid, though welcomed, might not be enough.
The screener said he is unsure how long he can continue to work for TSA, where he has been employed for a year after nine years in the U.S. Army. He has a part-time job, but he said it can't support a family of four.
Information for this article was contributed by Ron Wood of the NWA Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 01/19/2019