As the partial federal government shutdown gets close to setting a record, help is being made available for affected federal employees who live in Livingston County.

The Gleaners Shared Harvest Pantry on Sterling Drive in Genoa Township will have food boxes available starting on Monday for any federal employee. Bridget Brown is the Director of Food Secure Livingston and tells WHMI that affected employees can come to receive a box Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturdays 9am-12pm. Each box contains 25 pounds of food (the equivalent of about 20 meals) and no appointment is needed.

To receive the box, federal employees must; Identify themselves at the pantry as a federal employee picking up a pantry box designated for federal employees and present their federal employee identification and their driver’s license or state-issued photo ID. Brown says if there is greater need, the federal employee is welcome to schedule an appointment to shop in Shared Harvest Pantry or can pick up another box the following week by calling (517) 548-3710. If people have more questions, have other needs, or would like to know other locations, they are encouraged to call United Way's 2-1-1 for guidance. Shared Harvest is the only location providing assistance in Livingston County specifically for affected federal workers.

Meanwhile, officials with Bountiful Harvest in Brighton say federal workers are welcome to use their regular services, including free grocery shopping, clothes shopping and hot meals for all in Livingston County who have a need with no appointment necessary. On Friday, from 3:30 to 6pm, dinner is served and grocery and clothes shopping is available. And then on Saturday morning from 8am until noon, breakfast is served, while grocery and clothes shopping is available. The only identification necessary is a Drivers License or a State ID.

Some 800,000 workers, more than half of them still on the job, will miss their first paycheck today, as Washington is close to setting the record for the longest government shutdown in the nation's history. (JK)