It's day 34 of the government shutdown, and there's still no telling whether the Coast Guard will get paid next Friday on Feb. 1. In the meantime, communities, individuals, and sports teams across the country continue to provide food pantries, donation drives, and free dinners for Coast Guard personnel struggling to continue their mission — without being paid.
Last week, Selfridge Base Community Council in Harrison Township, Mich. provided support and encouragement to furloughed members of the Coast Guard (seen above).
The Jacksonville Jaguars bought dinner last Thursday for any Coast Guard member who visited one of eight Dick's Wings locations in Fl. The team covered all food and non-alcoholic beverages purchased by Coast Guard personnel between 5 and 9 p.m.
A 6th grader from Alexandria, Va. started a GoFundMe to support the men and women doing work very similar to that of her father.
"My dad is in the United States Navy and is Active Duty," Aubrey Holland writes on the GoFundMe campaign page. "As a military dependent I can't imagine my dad not getting paid. I would like to help Coast Guard families by providing them with resources to help them get through this time."
Holland plans to purchase gift cards to local grocery stores and gas stations to give to Coast Guard personnel going without paychecks.
And that's just the beginning of the list of efforts ongoing across the country.
However, these efforts can really only address the symptoms of the real problem — the government shutdown. Every bill that has been introduced in an effort to resume Coast Guard personnel pay has so far failed to achieve its goal.
One petition is taking a unique approach — working to temporarily move the US Coast Guard so that it operates under the Navy. If it were to succeed, Coast Guard personnel would receive pay just as members of the Department of Defense currently are. The petition needs 100,000 signatures before Feb. 21 in order to get a response from the White House. It currently has 91,039.
Until then, the country will have to continue providing relief for those who have done the same for us for over a century.