FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – The government shutdown is making things tougher for those already struggling to make ends meet.
Many local families receive benefits, and with those not being paid out, Fayette County Head Start is doing everything it can to try to help them, which includes sending out 220 food bags every Thursday.
“We give it to the parent who comes to the school to pick the kid up. These bags contain stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner: oatmeal, fruit cups, canned soups, canned pastas,” said Fayette County Child Development Executive Director Keith Young. “We send that home so they will have something to eat over the weekend, and maybe that will lessen the burden on parents.”
Anytime there’s a disruption of services, it messes with families and puts a bigger burden on Head Start.
“We want to make sure they’re getting the meals and services where we have family service workers, which is kind of like our school counselors,” Young said. “We work with a lot of food banks and clothing places; we’re advising those staff to be ready for additional requests.”
As a federal program, Head Start is wondering what’s going on with the government shutdown and when it might end.
“We’re prepared to provide these meals through the Thanksgiving break, and hopefully, everything will be back to open and normal,” said the child development executive director. “If not, we’ll continue that after we come back from Thanksgiving break, into Christmas.”
According to Young, Fayette County Head Start is almost flying blind because he says they have no one at the federal level to provide them additional guidance.
“It does make it difficult when you’re having to make these program changes, like sending home the food, which we’ve done in the past,” he said. “The longer you go, the more likely you may have an issue that nobody can provide an answer to. But as far as helping our families, we’re able to do that. Our funding is here. Our staff is dedicated to doing it. And we make sure that it’s done.”
* Head Start provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and family support services to low-income children from birth to age five. Eligibility is based on family income, but children in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or families receiving certain public assistance are also eligible, regardless of income.
