COLORADO SPRINGS – A Colorado Springs restaurant is offering free meals to families and employees impacted by the partial government shutdown.
Poor Richard’s in downtown Colorado Springs will give free meals to affected government employees and their families as long as the government shutdown continues. Employees will have to present their government ID to get free food.
In a statement sent to News5, Poor Richards said the free meals will be offered on Thursday starting at 11 a.m.
“We urge other businesses to follow suit! We hope this undue hardship facing our loyal government employees ends soon,” The restaurant wrote in its announcement.
The restaurant is owned by Colorado Springs City Council President Richard Skorman.
The partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22. The gridlock blocks money for nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice.
Currently, there is no end in sight for the shutdown. Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in an interview Thursday morning “there’s no amount of persuasion” President Donald Trump can use to get her to fund his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Trump has said the shutdown will last “as long as it takes” to get the wall funding he wants.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story)
