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AFGE delivers food to furloughed Fort Bragg workers

Jeremy Sprinkle
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20,000 pounds of food for 460 families

Local 1770 of the American Federation of Government Employees handed out 20,000 pounds of food to feed 460 families in Spring Lake on Thursday. The union wanted to help workers at Fort Bragg who are faced with difficult choices because of furloughs for Department of Defense workers made necessary by the sequester.

"Under this furlough period this summer, they have lost 20 percent of their pay and they are having to really decide whether or not to pay bills, buy clothes for kids going back to school or put groceries on the table,” Jonathan Steele, President of AFGE Local 1770, told News 14 Sandhills.

“This is probably a small token of what we can do as a union to try to alleviate some of the burdens,” union member Tiffany Lawson told WRAL.

Donations were not limited to union members, the Fayetteville Observer reported, and even soldiers showed up to collect food for their families:

Union President Jonathan Steele said they wouldn't turn anyone away.

President Steele told ABC 11 News that there's a huge misconception that all "civil service" jobs are good-paying jobs. "We've got people that actually - they cut grass for a living - that make just right above $20,000 a year," Steele said.

Watch the ABC 11 coverage of Local 1770's food giveaway: