As the U.S. government shutdown enters its fourth week, a new website is inviting strangers to pay for beer for struggling federal employees not receiving their paychecks.
The campaign, cheekily titled 鈥淧ay it Furloughed,鈥� allows people to pay for drinks at participating breweries for the 800,000 affected federal government workers.
One of the site鈥檚 founders said the inspiration came after hearing people speak about the shutdown鈥檚 鈥渘egative impact.鈥�
鈥淭hey wanted to do something to help. Maybe they can鈥檛 pay a car payment or make a mortgage payment but maybe, [they can help with] something small,鈥� site co-founder Nevin Martell told CTV News Channel.
Martell鈥檚 friend Al Goldberg, who owns a culinary incubator in Washington, D.C., told him that craft breweries have been suffering since the shutdown.
鈥淪o we decided to marry those two ideas 鈥� and we stayed up three days straight drinking Red Bull and built a website,鈥� he said.
鈥淧eople can go online and fund a beer and then federal employees can go into a local participating brewery and just redeem as many beers as they鈥檇 like,鈥� Martell said. 鈥淎s much as they need to get through the day.鈥�
The site, which launched Sunday, suggests that 鈥渂eer makes everything better.鈥�
As of Thursday night, approximately 2,800 beers had been donated with just over 500 beers being redeemed so far.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been really heartening to see people take advantage of it and walk out with a smile on their face,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e really feel like 鈥榤ission accomplished鈥� on that point.鈥�
But while Martell said it鈥檚 been 鈥渞eally nice鈥� to have met affected workers in tasting rooms at some of these breweries, he鈥檚 also heard painful stories.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e telling you just awful stories,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is not a great time for them but they鈥檙e able to go out and have a few beers and maybe hang out with somebody in the same situation as they are.鈥�
鈥淢aybe they can commiserate or talk about something different,鈥� Martell said, adding he noticed employees seemed depressed.
鈥淧eople are just afraid of the uncertainty of it all. They don鈥檛 know when it鈥檚 going to end [or how],鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd when they do go back to work, there鈥檚 going to be a mountain of catch-up for them.鈥�
鈥淭his is not the way they many of them had hoped to wanted to spend their January, and part of December and God knows how much longer,鈥� he said. 鈥淔ree beer may take the edge off for a bit but at the end of the day everybody just wants to go back to normal.鈥�
The government shutdown 鈥� now the longest in American history -- was prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump failing to sign a resolution unless it contained $5.7 billion in funding for his proposed southern border wall.
Since the shutdown began 27 days ago, garbage pickup in national parks has ceased and travellers have experienced longer lines at the airport.
Some estimates suggest that the U.S. economy loses $1.2 billion each week the shutdown continues. White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett admitted the administration underestimated the fallout.
