Unpaid Boston TSA workers will have the chance to grab free food after their shifts on Wednesday morning, courtesy of the Islamic Circle of North America Relief USA.
ICNA Relief partnered with the Greater New England area Muslim communities to provide food boxes and a $20 meat voucher from Quincy International Foods Co. at their Haymarket and Quincy locations to the estimated 1,000 TSA agents working at Boston Logan International Airport without pay.
“This is something that we are compelled to respond to. I believed in the community to support this effort and they have not let me down,” ICNA Relief Director Malaika McDonald said.
“Hopefully, the government figures this out, but we are going start preparing for more gift card drives in case.”
This week marks the fifth week of the longest government shutdown in American history, with no end in sight, and the second missed pay cycle since U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Congressional leaders are deadlocked over a $5.7 billion wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Approximately 8,000 federal workers in Massachusetts are not receiving a paycheck according the Massachusetts Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
While Wednesday’s mobile food bank is specifically for Logan workers, the ICNA have plans to organize more pickups incase SNAP and WIC benefits run out in February.
“We have weekly food drives throughout Massachusetts, but nothing to this scale before,” McDonald said.
“It’s very scary imagining that things could come to this. We all know someone who is in need.”
ICNA Relief offices in Dallas and Atlanta are planning similar distribution projects at their respective airports.
“During this National crisis, it is our duty to stand with our fellow Americans and ensure that no one goes without basic necessities,” ICNA Relief Operations Coordinator Kadra Maruf said in a statement. “This is what Americans do. We support one another in times of need.”
The distribution center will be open at Boston Logan Airport Terminal C in the Arrival section from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
