Food For The Furlough - Kingwood

Arbor Terrace will provide free meals to air traffic controllers during the government shutdown.

News reports warn that air traffic controllers are worried and distracted, as they're not getting paid during the government partial shutdown. But those at two Houston area airports are getting a little relief in the form of free, hot meals. Arbor Terrace at Kingwood Town Center, a senior living community in Kingwood, Texas, is providing the meals once a week to about 100 air traffic controllers at William P. Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airports.

Penelope Reider, Kingwood Arbor Terrace's executive director, started the initiative after learning about the struggles of a friend, who is an air traffic controller, while the shutdown is taking place. "I saw some of the comments (on Facebook) that she was putting about not getting paid and how this is a real struggle for her family," Reider told the Houston Chronicle.

But Reider didn't stop with her friend. She decided to enlist Arbor Terrace's culinary staff to prepare about 100 meals for all air traffic controllers who were on duty. The senior living community prepared its first meal -- pork with scalloped potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad and peach cobbler - last week. This week, the air traffic controllers enjoyed grilled chicken, green beans, wild rice and an assortment of desserts. The community's marketing department budget was used to purchase the food.

"Our marketing budget typically goes toward getting the word out about all the great services that Arbor Terrace offers to our senior residents," said Stacy Arceneaux, Arbor Terrace Kingwood's marketing director. "But we decided it was worth the tradeoff, to make sure that someone else can have a meal."

Laura Vensel, an air traffic controller with the Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center, picks up the meals at the senior community and delivers them to her coworkers. "It is a huge help to our community of controllers," Vensel told the Houston Chronicle. "Just having to take the stress off of having one less meal to worry about and this stuff that they're giving us now, all the toiletries and everything is definitely helpful."

"We'll continue to do this every week until the shutdown is over because their needs don't change; they're still not getting a paycheck," Reider said. "If we can give them the very basics that they need like toiletries and food, that's the least we can do."