Arizona Lottery, United Way give over 250 TSA workers shutdown aid

PHOENIX — The Arizona Lottery and Valley of the Sun United Way are helping federal employees recover from the government’s longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The groups put together 266 packages of gas gift cards and toiletries for Transportation Security Administration employees at Sky Harbor International Airport.

The TSA workers have started to pick up their packages at the Arizona Lottery’s main office this week.

According to a press release, the project cost the Arizona Lottery $25,000.

“This is a great opportunity for us to partner with TSA to say thank you to those employees who have worked so hard to keep us all safe, even as they were not being paid,” Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar said in the release.

United Way said on Twitter that while the shutdown is technically over, it will still have a long-lasting effect on employees.

Thank you to our Lottery volunteers and to all the federal workers who work hard for us each day ❤️ #unitephx pic.twitter.com/43qREqqHmn

— United Way (@myvsuw) February 1, 2019

“We are proud to partner with the Arizona Lottery to provide this creative solution to help households impacted by the federal shutdown,” Jayson Matthews, director of community impact for Valley of the Sun United Way, said in the release.

“Even though the shutdown is over, we saw that many of us are just one paycheck away from crisis.”

President Donald Trump signed a bill on Jan. 25 that temporarily opened the federal government for three weeks, ending the 35-day shutdown, but it could close again if a new deal is not reached by Feb. 15.

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