Donations, 'food bank' help as backpay is disbursed to TSA screeners at RIC

Though the 44-day federal government shutdown impacting Transportation Safety Administration airport screeners at Richmond International Airport and throughout the country ended Monday, community donations and the Capital Region Airport Commission continue to help the workforce impacted by paycheck disruption.

President Trump directed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Director Markwayne Mullen and others in the administration to find funds that had been previously appropriated for ICE or DHS activities and divert them to TSA payroll, explained Scott Robinson, principal advocate at Against Giants Labor Advocates, which represents TSA officers and DHS personnel. Staffers at the Norfolk-based organization use their expertise as former American Federation of Government Employees labor leaders to support workers through Virginia.

“TSA are getting paid for pay periods three, four and five,” Robinson said. “The [presidential] memorandum and the press release don't indicate that there's any appropriations moving forward. So, they are being paid for the time that they've worked, but there's no guarantee as far as a statute or law that guarantees them pay moving forward until the budget’s passed and appropriations are made.

“Until Congress comes up and says, ‘Okay, we funded a DHS appropriation, we get the money out there,' there is no money moving forward.”

Robinson said TSA screeners nationwide, including the approximately 160 at RIC, are still impacted from this most recent government shutdown on top of the one in the fall.

“Many officers were still paying off a no or a low interest loan that they had to take out during that first shutdown,” Robinson said. “As soon as they got caught up on that and they're on their feet, boom, there's another shutdown. And now they're in the same boat.”

This shutdown has impacted TSA officers, making them face food and transportation insecurity, with gas now at $4 a gallon. Paying for needed household items and necessities for children, along with childcare expenses and toiletry supplies such as feminine products became a challenge too.

During the monthly CRAC meeting on Tuesday morning, Scott Knight, director of RIC properties and concessions detailed to the board members, how, over the month-and-a half shutdown, the Capital Region Airport Commission Foundation, food banks and community rallied around the RIC TSA staffers.

“We've created a little small [free store], with shelves and everything for people to come through privately and pick stuff up for their needs, especially families. We had three families here that were both [on the TSA] payroll, husband and wife. They didn't get paid. So we had to find a way to support them strategically,” Knight said.

RIC marketing director Ken Madrigal said the airport’s goods pantry started with an internal collection among tenants and employees. CRAC conducted food drives with a collection, working with the Richmond Region Tourism information desk at the airport.

“The list of needs was specifically given to us from the TSA team, with their guidance, they told us the specific items that they wanted,” Madrigal said.

Airport efforts have focused on helping TSA staffers in three support areas, financial, through gift and gas cards through the airport's foundation, which helps impacted employees within the airport. Additionally, donation drives collecting general, non-perishable food that people bring as goodwill and meals have helped.

“Any folks or any restaurants that want to provide meals for the TSA agents, we are actively coordinating that,” Madrigal said.

The airport concessionaire already had established meal donations dubbed “TSA Tuesday” and other business in the airport contributed meals for TSA workers.

“We've been able to get Southwest Airlines, for example, to contribute to a day. The Commission itself has done about $12,000 in meal support,” Knight said.

After a meeting at which CRAC staff reported a busy winter, with passenger traffic at RIC on the rise in February (326,087 travelers passed through the terminal, marking an 8.3% increase compared to the same month last year), Knight gave a summary of TSA support efforts.

The shutdown for TSA screeners also took place during the spring break season in March, when RIC sees a spike of passengers.

While RIC did not see the same numbers of TSA agents call out and similar long lines to those at other U.S. airports, Knight described how the RIC TSA screeners who were working without pay received community support, clocking about 1,100 meals served to the RIC TSA workers during their two shifts during the shutdown.

“That has been a continuous process through last Thursday. And then the other stakeholders have started picking up today, as well as other members of the community,” Knight said. “It's all-in-all been a fabulous event. For the TSA agents, it has absolutely supported the lack of call outs. We've been a strong airport, a healthy airport and we are contributing to it.”

Feed More, the Central Virginia Food Bank also has been making deliveries to the RIC TSA staff “as needed,” according to airport staff. Feed More's grocery partners at Food Lion provided 185 grocery gift cards to help TSA employees purchase the food their families need. Feed More also delivered 200 healthy food boxes filled with shelf-stable items for distribution to employees in need.

"We’re grateful to have partners like Food Lion stepping up in moments like this. Their support helps us respond quickly and ensure affected workers can access the food they need during this difficult time," Rodrigo Arriaza, Feed More public relations and social content coordinator wrote in an email.

Airport growth on the agenda

During the CRAC meeting, three motions put before the body were approved.

Members voted to approve a $222,000 yearly lease extension for GoJet Airlines LLC, a maintenance provider, and a $112,000 yearly lease for Commonwealth Cargo Inc.

CRAC also approved a $7.8 million design-build contract with the Richmond, Texas-based Parking Guidance Systems LLC to implement a new red and green light system in the short-term parking garage, which will allow for more capacity and transparency about the available 4,800 spaces.

A report showed overall revenue for RIC is about $51.2 million. That's about $3.1 million or 6.5% above the approved budget. RIC is seeing operating revenue increase compared to the approved budget exceeding 2020. Compared to the same time last year, operating revenue increased about $6.4 million, or 14.4%.

The newly created CRAC Foundation invested in RIC employees in need, providing roughly $9,000 in gift cards to help TSA screeners with their expenses during the period when they were not receiving a paycheck.

The Fifth Baptist Church in Richmond's Randolph neighborhood conducted a non-perishable food drive for the TSA workers as a part of a yearly collection around Super Bowl Sunday by the residents of the Carillon Neighborhood Association surrounding Byrd Park, donating more than 400 nonperishable items.

“The community and especially the Christian community continues to give when things happen to people, regardless of their income, regardless of their race, and the Christian community is going to keep doing it,” said Ricardo Brown, co-pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church.

There are strict rules in place regarding federal government employees accepting donations. That drive has stopped now that the funding is in place for the TSA screeners’ back pay.

“We're still going to continue our efforts,” Knight said. “We continue to support the pantry.”

Currently, individuals can go through airport staff to donate items for the airport pantry such as feminine products, diapers, baby wipes, gas cards or meals to TSA staffers. The public also can donate to the CRAC Foundation. All donations go into the general fund and cannot be designated for a specific purpose. Contributors are encouraged to include their contact information, including an email, to receive a tax receipt for their donation.

Monetary donations to support TSA staffers in need can be made by check should be payable to: Capital Region Airport Commission Foundation and can be mailed to the Capital Region Airport Commission Foundation Finance Department, 1 Richard E. Byrd Terminal Drive, Suite C, Richmond International Airport, VA 23250. The nonprofit organization’s tax ID (EIN) number is 93-1622124

“The officers are dedicated professionals who come to work every day,” Robinson said. “By the time Congress returns from recess, they will have been in a shutdown status for 106 out of fewer than 200 days of this fiscal year. They continued to come to work. They continue to do the job. At some point it does become very difficult for them to do so. But it's admirable that they keep coming in and do this job. It's a thankless job. And we are very appreciative of them.”

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.