Amid Shutdown, Seattle Coast Guard Food Bank Runs Out Of Food

SEATTLE, WA - Amid a long partial federal government shutdown, the food bank for personnel at the Seattle Coast Guard base has run out of food. With no end to the shutdown in sight, there's an effort afoot to help restock the food bank.

Mischelle Davis, director of operations at the Davis Law Group in Seattle, found out about the food bank situation on Wednesday. She had contacted a former client who is in the Coast Guard to find out if there was anything the firm could do to help during the shutdown.

That person put her in touch with the local chapter of the Chief Warrant Officers Association, which runs the food bank. A representative from the association told her the bad news.

"I spoke to him at about 2:30 p.m. [Wednesday] and the food bank had been cleaned out for several hours," she wrote in a bulletin on the Davis Law website. "He also told me that more than 1,300 people are posted on the base. And that roughly 70 percent have families."

Davis is planning to bring items to the food bank around 10 a.m. Thursday, and is asking others to do the same. The food bank needs pretty standard nonperishable items: canned vegetables and meat; paper towels and toilet paper; peanut butter; soap; diapers; and laundry detergent.

If you're interested in donating, items can be dropped off at 1519 Alaskan Way South, Seattle.

The CWOA is also accepting money donations through USO Northwest.

About 42,000 Coast Guard members are working without pay right now. A total of about 800,000 federal workers are not being paid during the shutdown. President Donald Trump has pledged to keep the government partially closed until he gets some $5 billion to build a section of wall across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Port of Seattle has also mounted an effort to collect donations for unpaid federal workers. On Wednesday, the Port set up a donation bin outside the Sea-Tac Airport conference center. You can drop off nonperishable food and gift cards between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily. Transportation Security Administration employees and air traffic controllers are working without pay at Sea-Tac.

Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard