As Coast Guard personnel continue to struggle with what is now the longest government shutdown in history, universities are stepping up to help, including the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Instead of students in the Coast Guard Academy's Leamy Hall lounge, furloughed CGA personnel can find a pop-up food pantry stocked with cereal, pasta, granola bars, dog/cat food, and household items.
“Military members have a natural inclination to give. It’s not natural for us to take,” Craig Breverman, an active duty senior chief in the Coast Guard who volunteers as president of the southeastern Connecticut CPOA chapter told the Associated Press. “In case of bad weather this weekend, we want them to have food in their pantries.”
Of the roughly 260 employees at the CGA, 160 nonessential employees such as ground maintenance, facilities maintenance, secretarial staff, and support staff are not working. The other 100 employees are mainly faculty — they're working without pay.
“It’s an uncomfortable experience to be like ‘I work but I’m not getting a pay check,’” Lauren Laughlin, a petty officer second class in the Coast Guard and spokeswoman for the academy told AP.
The Coast Guard Academy isn't the only academic institution lending a hand. Thomas Edison State University in New Jersey announced Monday that any student in the Coast Guard won't have to pay tuition until tuition assistance is available again. The school has 135 active-duty Coast Guard students.
And Roger Williams University in Rhode Island is offering free dinner for U.S. Coast Guard members working without pay. There are around 330 Coast Guard members in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. The university is expecting 75 to 100 attendees for the free dinner.
Despite these efforts, however, what members of the Coast Guard really need is an end to the government shutdown. In the meantime, Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz asks that Coast Guard personnel "continue standing the watch."