With the government shutdown taking effect on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of federal employees nationwide are bracing for a pause on their paychecks— including those on the Central Coast.
In response, some local businesses are taking action to support federal workers during the shutdown.
Wild West Pizza & Grill in Lompoc is offering a free, medium pizza to local federal workers impacted by the government closure.
The business announced the deal in a post on Facebook Tuesday night, garnering hundreds of reactions in just a few hours.
Wild West Pizza & Grill owner David Goldy told KSBY on Wednesday that the decision was spurred on by the fact that many community members would be impacted by the shutdown.
“This community has a lot of federal workers because of the Space Force Base, and also because of the Federal Penitentiary. So, there's a lot of people that, when they're not getting a paycheck, you know, it puts a [burden] on them to put food on the table. So, it's just our way of giving back,” Goldy said.
The pizza shop owner says he offered the same deal to federal workers during the last government shutdown seven years ago, which lasted for 34 days.
