Eric Antrim has been furloughed from his job as a U.S. Forest Service bridge inspector, but says he’s definitely not idle because he knows things may get difficult quickly for other federal employees not working due to the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

“If this goes on like it seems like it’s going to, things are going to get bad,” he said. “We got paid 70% our last paycheck. We’re not getting our next paycheck, so people are going to start not getting paychecks. And everybody’s own personal finances are personal, and I want them to know that they can trust me and they can contact me.”

On Thursday that meant being among a half dozen people offering what’s set to become a twice-weekly free lunch for federal employees at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1547 hall, located a few blocks from the Juneau Federal Building. Juneau had about 700 federal workers in 2023 and nationwide about 12% of the federal workforce had been targeted by the Trump administration as of May of this year, according to published reports.

Three guests came to the first lunch on Monday and the same number were there shortly after the hall opened at noon Thursday, but organizers said they expected the gatherings to start small and grow over time. The lunches are scheduled from noon to 1:30 p.m. each Monday and Thursday.

“It all scales well because we are starting off small, giving folks an opportunity to know where we are, plant the flag and be available to folks,” said Daniel Dune Rothman, who said he accepted an unplanned early retirement in April from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to the Trump administration’s mass firings and buyouts.

One of the goals of the lunches “is to leverage this as a place for folks to get together and do a little bit of information hubbing,” Rothman said. He said he’s been talking to a bank in town, for instance, about allowing furloughed workers to defer mortgage payments until the shutdown ends.

Lunches are also a social as well as practical way for furloughed workers to share resources, Rothman said.

“Lunch is easy, particularly when people are out of work and structuring their day can be difficult,” he said. “It’s one of the things that unanchors people, and one of the anchors people at work have is going to lunch together.”

The fare was simple — sandwiches, chips, some baked goods, drinks — with organizers each bringing items they made or purchased. IBEW agreed to provide its hall as a conveniently located gathering space.

Chad Millen, a furloughed NOAA employee, ate lunch Thursday at the hall with his daughters Charlotte, 13, and Amadia, 8. He said he’s been a federal worker since 2019 and hoped to continue as one for at least a decade, but “there aren’t a lot of opportunities to remain a fellow worker right now.”

“I’ve been going on walks and I’ve played a little bit of ice hockey, which normally I wouldn’t have been able to do, and I’m also doing unemployment paperwork and looking for a job,” he said.

Millen said he has some money saved — and having annual Alaska Permanent Fund dividends paid out recently offered some additional relief — so he’s not immediately worried about his family’s financial stability. But he knows people in tight situations and everyone is having to change their mindsets.

“You slow down your spending, you don’t do the things you want to do, you don’t get to travel and at some point…” he said, trailing off.

Politicians on all sides of the political aisle say they expect the shutdown to be prolonged, with the next scheduled action being a U.S. Senate vote on Oct. 20 which, like frequent previous votes, is not expected to end the standoff, USA Today reported Friday.

The news site reported that, among other impacts, Office of Budget and Management Director Russell Vought said the Army Corps of Engineers will as of Friday pause or cancel more than $11 billion in projects primarily in Democratic-led cities.

Vought and President Donald Trump have stated that, in addition to targeting “Democrat” programs during the shutdown, their intent is to permanently fire a large number of federal workers rather than merely furloughing them — and that those who return to work may not get paid for time missed during the shutdown, unlike past stoppages. A judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the administration from such firings.

Antrim said the administration’s actions since Trump began his second term in January means “the best and brightest in my program are gone” for good already.

“A lot of the reason we accept lower pay for the government is because of job security,” he said. “Well, that’s out the window. We have all these laws protecting federal workers, but that happens when the president ignores the law.”

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.