Dozens of federal workers in North Texas are about to get a special delivery in the mail.
It's part of a donation drive started by a government employee who hasn't been paid herself in more than a month.
Anne Powell went to the owner of Cookies in Bloom in McKinney with the idea: Care packages for the 68 local United States Department of Agriculture, food inspectors currently working without getting paid.
Powell has been a USDA food inspector for 33 years.
“It’s very demoralizing for a lot of inspectors. They’ve voiced they feel like they aren’t heard, they aren’t seen,” Powell explained.
Carolyn Selby, owner of Cookies in Bloom, bakes cookie bouquets by day and runs a post office out of the back of her shop.
Selby leaned on fellow local business owners for donations for the care packages.
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So far, she’s collected bath bombs, popcorn, crackers and candy to include in the packages. Cookies, of course, will be included too.
The packages will be shipped out over the weekend.
“It’s such a huge group that is currently not being paid so we thought if we could take a little slice of that pie and put a smile on their face, it was well worth it,” Selby said.
