Near Ohio air force base, food pantries and businesses grapple with effects of shutdown | US federal government shutdown 2025

KOn Oct. 28, when Jane Doorley and her husband, Bill, arrived at the Fairborn Fish Food Pantry, which they help run, they were unable to enter the parking lot because of the number of cars belonging to people looking for food.

“Our numbers are up a lot. Last Friday was really bad too,” says Jane. “Approximately 250 families, including 300 children, come to the open pantry every day.”

The pantry is located outside Dayton, Ohio, which has been reeling from the federal government shutdown, a half-mile from Wright-Patterson air force base, the largest single-site employer in Ohio with 38,000 employees.

With tens of thousands of military personnel working without pay and local contractors and civilian workers being furloughed, the entire regional economy is in trouble.

About 8,100 civilian workers According to local media reports, personnel at the Air Force Materiel Command, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, received leave notices.

The effects of this are clearly visible in food resource centres.

“In September we were probably helping an average of 250 families a week. This week I estimate we’ll probably help 500 families,” says Doorley.

“We’re seeing the anxiety increase. You can feel it when people come. Everyone wants to come in the beginning.” [of the day]For fear of running out of food.”

For decades, the military has been seen as a stable source of employment despite recessions and other economic crises. For a part of the industrial midwest that never fully recovered from the collapse of manufacturing activities in the late 20th century, the air force base has been a lifeline and an additional source of energy. 40,000 off-center, indirect jobs.

The base produces every year about 16 billion dollars for the local economy. The streets outside the 8,000-acre facility are lined with dozens of military-adjacent and defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, GE Aviation and Northrop Grumman, which provide decades of steady employment largely through federal government contracts paid for by taxpayers. Startups such as Joby Aviation have recently flocked to the region to take advantage of access to air force facilities and intellectual property.

But now local businesses are feeling the full impact of the closure.

“We really lost a lot of our customers because of the government shutdown. It used to be very busy but now it’s empty,” says Tik Taew, who works at Tik’s Thai Express restaurant, which has been operating for more than 15 years and is located a short distance from the base.

“Weekday mornings are usually our busiest time, but right now it’s pretty quiet; we only get five to six hours.” [customers].”

Nationwide, approximately three quarters of a million Civilians work with the US military. About half He is currently thought to be on leave. Reports A report from the Trump administration made public on Nov. 4 suggested that many of those furloughed may not be eligible for retroactive payments or that it could be used as a negotiating tactic with Democratic party leaders working to end the shutdown.

Democrats have refused to sign a funding deal to end the shutdown unless subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which provides medical care at lower cost to millions of Americans, are renewed in 2026, a measure the White House opposes.

Experts say that in a last-minute measure taken at the end of last month, the Trump administration raised $5.3 billion to ensure military service members were paid on November 1, a historic first. It is not possible to pay If no agreement is reached, on the next payroll date.

“[B]On November 15th, our soldiers and soldiers who are willing to risk their lives will not get paid,” said treasury secretary Scott Bessent. said Face the Nation on October 26th.

Polls show It turned out that most Americans blamed Trump and the Republican party rather than the Democrats for the shutdown, which was the longest in US history. And yet in Greene County, Ohio, where the base is located, many voters, members of the air force and veterans as a whole generally vote Republican political candidates.

The air force base isn’t the only major military structure in the Dayton area to be closed due to the shutdown.

The National Museum of the US Air Force, the world’s largest military aviation museum located adjacent to the air force base, has also been closed since October 1. more than that 66,000 people Tourists from all over the country who visit the museum every month contribute millions of dollars to the local economy by staying in local hotels and eating at restaurants.

local county officials, add millions more dollars Supporting food banks. The Dayton Food Bank, which includes a network of 122 local food pantries, has delivered 500 emergency food boxes to the base since the start of the shutdown.

“Essential civilians who are still not receiving a paycheck during the shutdown, even though they may be living above poverty levels when receiving a paycheck, may not easily have the funds they need through savings or credit cards in an emergency like now,” says Lee Lauren Truesdale of the Dayton Foodbank.

a local the restaurant offers a $5 menu to military members to help them relieve financial hardship. Others are to give free cooked meals.

“These civilian employees, while working without pay, must pay daily expenses such as rent, daycare (to hold space in anticipation of returning to work), purchasing food, medical bills, car bills, etc. [and] utilities.”

All this time, the Trump White House has worked to undermine these groups.

Thousands of pantries across the country, including the Fairborn Fish Food Pantry, were receiving financial support totaling $117 million through the federal government’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program. was taken away In January.

“This is probably a forever pause,” says Doorley. “We 1762627710 “I rely entirely on donations.”

At Fairborn Fish Food Pantry, which has introduced special days for military families, Doorley says meat is the number one sought-after item.

“Donations have increased slightly, but we go to 500 families a week and buy meat. This is not sustainable for us,” he says, adding that it’s time for politicians in Washington DC to find solutions.

“It’s time for both sides to understand that we are all Americans and that we have people who are hungry and need help. [They need to] come together and find some middle ground to move things forward and help those in our community.