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Utah federal employees struggling to make ends meet during shutdown turning to food pantries

Posted at 3:54 PM, Jan 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-08 23:49:16-05

SALT LAKE CITY -- Some federal employees in Utah are turning to food pantries to help fill their own budget gaps during the government shutdown.

“I live paycheck to paycheck so it’s hard, it’s scary to think I’m not going to get this next check,” said Michelle Lee, a federal employee who stopped at the Catholic Community Services food pantry in Ogden on Tuesday. “We got my last check a couple of weeks ago so we’re coming up on a check we’re not going to be getting so it’s getting me really worried. Single mom, so it’s kind of a scary situation.”

Catholic Community Services is allowing federal employees to stop at their food pantry twice a month for a free cart of food.

“The cart of food that we give out we figure is probably about five days worth of food, roughly $200 to $300 of food,” said Maresha Bosgeiter, Director of Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah.

If you are a federal employee, you will need to bring your federal I.D. card or your last paystub to get access to the food pantry. You can find more information through Catholic Community Services at https://ccsutah.org/