As the number of federal employees working for delayed paychecks grows, Kraft Foods is offering them free food from a pop-up store in Washington, D.C.
The store, called “Kraft Now Pay Later,” opened Jan. 16 at 1287 4th Street NE and will remain open until Sunday, Jan. 20. Employees with a government ID will be able to take home a full bag of Kraft products without paying, although the company is asking employees and others who can afford it to donate in turn to a charity of their choice.
A Facebook page Kraft created for the occasion reads: “While we can’t do anything about the whole paycheck thing, we’ll do what we can to see that family dinners remain business as usual.”
Meantime, in an effort to help farmers whose subsidy payments and other services are not being funded during the shutdown, the USDA is recalling almost half of its Farm Service Agency employees.
About 1,000 of the FSA’s 2,100 employees will work without real-time paychecks on Jan. 17, 18 and 22, according to a USDA news release. The FSA personnel will help farmers process loans, subsidy payments and other matters.
