Bay Area Coast Guard families brace for financial impact of first missed paycheck during government shutdown

Bay Area Coast Guard families brace for financial impact of first missed paycheck during government shutdown

The Bay Area is home to large communities of Coast Guard members and their families. Right now, many of those households are feeling anxiety, with the government shutdown expected to hit them in the wallet in a matter of days. �

NOVATO, Calif. - The Bay Area is home to large communities of Coast Guard members and their families. 

Right now, many of those households are feeling anxiety, with the government shutdown expected to hit them in the wallet in a matter of days.  

Coast Guard workers set to miss first paycheck since shutdown began

Coast Guard members and their loved ones who live in Hamilton Housing in Novato are starting to get stressed about money. 

What they're saying:

"There's definitely a lot to consider scaling back and things like that," said Coast Guard spouse Kain Martin.

"And then the reality that you're going to have to stretch that dollar that much further because another one is not coming for an unknown amount of time," said Coast Guard spouse Jaqi Moon. 

Unless the government shutdown somehow ends on Monday, most Coast Guard workers will not receive their mid-October paycheck, and will not get paid again until after the shutdown is over. 

"A lot of people don't realize that the Coast Guard is going to be impacted while the other services are receiving pay," said Moon. 

Moon and Martin both lived through the 2018 government shutdown—which lasted for more than a month, the longest in U.S. history. 

"We basically relied on each other. We relied on food banks. We relied on any kind of assistance that we could get," said Martin. 

A tight-knit community supports neighbors in need

This time around, Moon and Martin—both members of the Coast Guard Spouses Club of North Bay—are making sure their brothers and sisters in uniform and their families have what they need. 

"We immediately started trying to figure out who we could reach out to for help for our community. We know that there's a lot of food banks in the area. We knew that we were going to have to start working to get in touch with them," said Moon. "We're hoping to put some communications out that dry goods, diapers, things like that can be dropped off to the community."

Moon and Martin are hoping the shutdown is over in a hurry, but, if not, they take comfort in knowing their neighbors have their back. 

"It's better to know that the community that we support can help support us when we need it," said Martin. 

What you can do:

If you'd like to help, you can reach out to Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, which is accepting donations. Or you can reach out to your local Coast Guard Spouses Club.