Kodiak lends helping hand to Coast Guard and federal workers

More than one in four Kodiak residents are not getting a paycheck due to the partial government shutdown that has forced many federal and Coast Guard employees to stay home or work without pay.

That figure comes from Alaska’s senior senator, Liza Murkowski who spoke this week on the Senate floor to let Americans and fellow senators know how hard the shutdown is hurting Alaska’s communities and the Coast Guard here.

Sarah Phillips is the community relations director at the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce. She says more than 30 local businesses are pitching in to help federal workers and Coast Guard families during this period of payless paydays.

Some are offering discounts on services and some are donating to local food banks, including a new one set up on base specifically to cover the shutdown.

Phillips spoke with KMXT’s Maggie Wall.

That was the Chamber of Commerce’s Sarah Phillips speaking with KMXT’s Maggie Wall.

We have a link on our website, KMXT.org to the Chamber’s Facebook page where they are keeping an updated listing of all the businesses and discounts being offered to local workers being hurt by the federal government shutdown and the loss of paychecks.

Here’s the link to the Chamber’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KodiakChamberofCommerce/