11/21/13 Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) Wednesday donated his take-home pay for the 16 days of the federal government shutdown, worth $5,000, to ten food banks across Indiana. Donnelly refused to take the salary he received while partisan gridlock had shut down the government, hurting Hoosier families and businesses, as well as our entire country’s economy.
“While too many Hoosiers are still looking for work and trying to put food on the table, partisan gridlock in Washington shut down our government, hurting our state’s and nation’s economies,” said Donnelly. “This was irresponsible and shameful—Congress creating problems for our economy instead of solving them–so I thought it was inappropriate for me to take my paycheck for this time.”
Donnelly wrote checks for $500 to ten food banks across the state. He donated funds in Evansville to United Caring Shelters, in Fort Wayne to the Community Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Indiana, in Gary to the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, in Indianapolis to Gleaners, in Lafayette to the Food Finders Food Bank, in Muncie to the Second Harvest Food Bank, in New Albany to Hope Southern Indiana, in Richmond to the Circle U Help Center, in South Bend to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, and in Terre Haute to the Catholic Charities of Terre Haute.
According to Feeding America, last year, over one million Hoosiers were “food insecure,” meaning they did not always know where they would find their next meal.
