Pull pork sandwhich from World Central Kitchen.
The Federal Shutdown lasted a lot longer than folks anticipated. To the point where peoples food supply started to run short or become non existent. Several thousand government workers were forced or encouraged to rely on the community and each other in such a time to stop the stomach rumblings. It was not uncommon to see long lines of people standing to get food from pantry’s or participating eaterys that provided free furlough meals as long as you presented your government badge. I did just that, along my fellow federal furloughed friends, we hit the mean streets of D.C. to get any and everything to make sure we did not miss a meal. The time getting this food served as a two fold process. Fold one: The obvious, getting food to keep our refrigerators stocked. Fold two: I believe was to listen to each other and give solace during a time of uncertainty. To be clear, federal workers missed two paychecks. Rent, mortgages, car notes, and other payment responsibilities were on the line. As we know, capitalism does not take a day off. There is no sympathy with creditors once you missed that 30 day past due mark. So, people needed to be consoled or to forget their problems if only for a few minutes. The exchange of laughter about day to day activities or lack their of while standing in line to get free food was oddly enough refreshing. It was a way to say directly or indirectly to one another that we you are not alone. Several community based organizations, humanitarian celebrity chefs, and corporate entities provided help in a time where our federal government failed us and used us a political pawns for their self serving agenda and vanity projects. It was the people that came together and lifted each other up. Below you can see pictures of the federal food frenzy.
We Hungry
My friend and co-worker Breanna and I at the Capital Food Bank near the grocery store “GIANT” in Northeast D.C.
Jan 12th, 2019
Food consisted of potatoes, apples, and boxed and canned goods.
My friend Katy and I were able to grab a couple free lunches from a couple Jose Andreas restaurant.
It aint easy being cheesy: Me and Byron getting free food from the Kraft popup shop for furloughed employees.
My Homeboy’s Lady
My best friends wife C.C. came to my apartment to hang with me for a while during the furlough. She and her husband live in Alabama, but she was in the city on business. As fate would have it, she just so happen to have a bottle of vino with her but we spilled the tea.
While talking, one can work up an appetite. So we decided to go to “&Pizza”. Similar to World Central Kitchen “&Pizza” were also giving away food to furlough employees, as long as you had a government ID to prove.
What may seem like an ordinary egg and cheese sandwich, was by far the best damn egg and and cheese sandwich. I don’t know what type of ham that was, but that shit went hard.
SOME provided several community members with 3 pounds of meat, several canned goods, and various carbohydrates, and beverages.
January 16th, 2019
Its a family affair! Byron and his fellow ICAP fellow Christina Tilgham, my former Peace Corps Malawi Director of Programming and Training Barb Monahan and her husband Ben. We grabbed several BBQ sandwiches and vegan nachos..
Friend, confidant, barber: Terry James
During the furlough, I really haven’t done much to myself as it relates to personal appearance. I neglected how I appeared outwardly. I wore mostly over-sized sweats and baseball caps to cover up the fact that my head was nappy. I felt that I had no one to impress because I wasn’t going to work, so I didn’t try.
I suppose Terry realized that I haven’t made an appointment in a while and that I was affected by the shutdown. So he reached out to me, and offered to take me out to get some Korean Wings from BonChon and extended a Furlough haircut. I was reluctant at first, because I didn’t want to seem like I needed or wanted a handout.