Radio Host Teams With Restaurant To Feed Furloughed Federal Workers

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - A Tamarac restaurant is serving up some relief to federal workers.

"I can't think that you work and after you work you can't get paid," said Reverend Dennis Grant. "We decided to give a free meal every day to these workers."

Grant is a local radio host who partnered with the Caribbean restaurant Pan D Endz to serve meals to those who do not know when their next paycheck will be.

"We feel like we need to step up and do the right thing," said Keisha Allison, a server at the restaurant. "That's just the humanitarian thing to do."

Since they announced the free meals on Saturday, they have seen more than 130 federal workers stop by. Grant said the response is humbling.

"Here's a restaurant doing something to let me eat," he said with tears in his eyes. "That means a lot to me, that we can reach out and touch lives."

Those who are feeling the financial pinch may also be strapped for gas money, so his radio company is donating $1000 to buy gas cards. He hopes other businesses will match that.

"They have to find a way to get here," Grant said. "So we thought let's get some gas gift cards, go down to Fort Lauderdale Airport and give as many as possible."

With a payday still up in the air for federal employees, the restaurant plans to keep serving the free meals until the shutdown is over.

"We plan to feed them as long as this continues," said Grant.

To receive a meal, workers will have to bring their federal identification.

Pan D Endz is located at 8763 NW 57th Street in Tamarac.