The Houston Airport System, along with its concessions, vendors and air carrier partners teamed up to offer help to the nearly 3,000 federally badged employees at both George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) who were affected by the recent partial shutdown of the federal government, which began on December 22, 2018 and ended on January 25, 2019.

Among the efforts to offer a helping hand include:

• Working with concessions partner HMS Host, federally badged workers at Bush Airport can get a voucher for $15 food vouchers good at any HMS Host location at the airport. The vouchers will be paid for by the Houston Airport System.
• United Airlines teamed with the Houston Food Bank to provide two mobile food pantry sites on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, at 17441 John F. Kennedy Blvd. at Bush Airport. Two distribution shifts delivered food and goods to federally badged employees and offered resources to register for addition services, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• OTG, working with United, is offering a 50 percent discount on food and will distribute vouchers.
• The non-profit Doing Our Part has provided lunch to the TSA employees on duty at Bush Airport.
• Airport volunteer Brian Rozell made a personal contribution, paying to have 65 pizzas from Papa Tony’s Kitchen delivered to the Homeland Security office in the Bush Airport terminals.
• At Hobby Airport, the Four Families of Houston group donated breakfast from Pappasito's Cantina on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, for federally badged employees and will distribute food vouchers to those employees. The vouchers will be paid for by the Houston Airport System.
• The Dawoodi Bohra Community donated over 300 boxes of food staples to federal workers at IAH and HOU.

“Recent events such as Hurricane Harvey have sensitized us to the understanding that we must be aware that our service providers are getting their basic needs met, to ensure they are in the best position to provide care for our passengers.  So, the collaboration that went into providing support for federal workers affected by the shutdown went a long way in our ability to sustain operations during a tough period,” said HAS Chief Operating Officer Jesus Saenz.