Organizations Aid TSA Employees Working Weeks Without Pay

PHOENIX (February 6, 2019) – As all federal employees continue to recover from the month-long partial government shutdown, TSA employees at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport are getting a little relief after the Arizona Lottery and Valley of the Sun United Way worked together, last week, to assemble 266 Shutdown Relief Packages. These boxes are stuffed full with much-needed and sometimes expensive nonfood items, including:

• A $25 Gas Card
• Toilet Paper
• Paper Towels
• Clorox Wipes
• Soap
• Laundry Detergent
• Toothpaste

Each TSA worker receiving a voucher this week can bring it to the Arizona Lottery’s main office, conveniently located near Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, to claim their Shutdown Relief Package.

“This is a great opportunity for us to partner with TSA to say thank you to those employees who have worked so hard to keep us all safe, even as they were not being paid,” said Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar. “We are a part of the Sky Harbor family and we wanted to take this opportunity to give back by offering them this token of our appreciation to lessen this tremendous hardship in some small way.”

“We are proud to partner with the Arizona Lottery to provide this creative solution to help households impacted by the Federal Shutdown,” said Jayson Matthews, Director of Community Impact for Valley of the Sun United Way. “Even though the shutdown is over, we saw that many of us are just one paycheck away from crisis.”

This $25,000 investment by the Arizona Lottery is just a small part of the more than $4 billion The Arizona Lottery and our retail partners have given back to vital programs and services across our state since 1981. Last fiscal year, alone, the Arizona Lottery transferred almost
$212 million to 13 beneficiaries administering 18 programs across the state. These include:

• The Healthy Arizona fund, which helps the Department of Health Services provide nutrition and preventative health services to our most vulnerable residents.
• The University Bond Fund, which allows ASU, NAU and the U of A to build critical research and academic expansions while also maintaining older buildings.
• The Arizona Game & Fish Department’s Heritage Fund, which protects Arizona’s unique and diverse wildlife through education and conservation.