With a national budget fight ongoing, the airports in Missoula, Helena and Butte are collecting food and gift cards for TSA workers.
By Zeke Lloyd MONTANA FREE PRESS
Julie Gardner, a Missoula real estate agent, wanted to support Transportation Security Administration agents who hadn’t been paid since the partial government shutdown began in February. When she saw that Missoula’s airport was collecting food and gift cards for the wageless workers, she offered her office in southeast Missoula — the side of town opposite the airport — for residents to drop off donations.
“If you’re not near the airport … you can drop them here, and we’ll be happy to get them out there the same day,” Gardner said.
To Gardner, the food drive is a small act that makes a big difference.
“It’s 65 of our Missoula neighbors who have jobs and are working for free,” Gardner said.
The partial shutdown is a result of stalled negotiations among congressional Democrats, Republicans and President Donald Trump over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA. Democrats are withholding their support as they push for changes to two immigration-specific agencies, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But, because of various wrinkles in the federal budget, TSA agents, not ICE, are missing paychecks while the shutdown continues.
The airports in Helena and Butte are hosting similar drives for food and gift cards. Staff at the three airports declined to estimate how much had been collected, but they reported an increase in donations since last weekend.
At Helena’s airport, Director Jeff Wadekamper set up a table for people to drop off donations. He said interested donors had struggled to support the 16 agents in Helena because there wasn’t an easy way to offer donations at a security checkpoint.
“So we just thought we could help be the middle man, if you will, and facilitate donations,” Wadekamper told Montana Free Press.
Wadekamper said TSA agents aren’t allowed to accept homemade meals, cash or cash-equivalent gift cards, like Visa, Mastercard or American Express. They can take retailer-specific gift cards worth up to $20, according to Wadekamper.
In Butte, Sandy Thomas organized a drive for the airport’s 12 TSA agents. Thomas works at The Ore Cart, a restaurant inside the airport.
“Our airport is very close-knit,” Thomas told MTFP. “We’ll always watch out for each other.”
In Missoula, the airport is collaborating with restaurants to provide free meals to TSA agents, a program it launched at the start of the shutdown.
Officials at Billings’ airport could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Security agents at airports in Great Falls and Kalispell are still being paid because they are funded differently from the TSA agents at other Montana airports.
Bozeman International Airport isn’t hosting a drive, but Director Brian Sprenger said he has referred about five interested donors to local community groups. Local Rabbi Chaim Bruk delivered Bozeman’s TSA agents lunch Monday, along with 50 $75 gift cards on behalf of an unnamed donor, according to a post on Facebook.
“We care about you. We are grateful to you for showing up to work,” Bruk wrote in a letter to TSA agents that he posted on Facebook. “We are rooting that this gets resolved soon, and please know that we don’t take your service for granted.”
