Summer Kerksick, a furloughed government contractor, has stopped getting paychecks during the government shutdown and recently visited her first food bank. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement Advertisement“My uncle is a government employee, and I just saw how much pride that he took in his job. But since the October government shutdown, Kerksick has been furloughed, which means she’s one of the estimated 750,000 federal workers across the United States who are on an indefinite unpaid leave of absence. How A Food Bank Is Helping Her Stretch MealsKerksick is doing everything she can to avoid dipping into her emergency savings. In October, Kerksick lined up for her first food bank, a Capital Food Bank program specifically for federal contractors and employees in the Washington, D.C., area to get shelf-stable pantry items and fresh produce.
