ROCK SPRINGS — The idea started with running catered meals to TSA workers at the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport.

But now the plan has evolved, and several area restaurants are taking it a step further.

In an effort to alleviate the financial hardship being experienced by government workers in the wake of the shutdown, these restaurants are offering free meals to the workers until the shutdown ends.

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“Any restaurant that wants to participate, we’ll give away free meals until (the shutdown) is over,” said Ray Marini, general manager at Coyote Creek Restaurant and Steakhouse.

All a person needs to do is show some form of government-issued identification, and they will be able to participate in the program.

Participating Restaurants

As of today, Coyote Creek, Sapporo’s Japanese Steakhouse in Rock Springs and Don Pedro’s Mexican Family Restaurant in Green River are all involved. But Marini said any dining establishment that wants to participate is welcome to join.

Marini plans to set up a special nightly menu for government employees in order to get them fed and help them maintain some semblance of normalcy in their lives. He’s also reaching out to other restaurants in southwest Wyoming to join the cause.

“These people have a tough job to begin with, but then to come into work and not get paid, don’t know when your next paycheck is coming and you’ve got mortgage payments, or rent or car payments or your kids’ tuition, I just feel like this is something that we need to do,” Marini said.

A Tale of Inspiration

Marini said he was inspired by a restauranteur named Jose Andreas, a Spanish immigrant who provided a similar service to people in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017.

“When FEMA wasn’t there this guy found a way to get food into Puerto Rico,” he said. “To date he’s served over a million meals. Anywhere in the last couple of years where there has been any kind of disaster, he finds a way of doing it. Right now he’s doing it all over the country.”

Food has a healing quality, both physical and psychological, Marini said. He encourages any other restaurant owner in southwest Wyoming to come on board with the program.

If you are a restaurant owner in our area, please let SweetwaterNOW know about your plans to be a part of this effort and we will post it on our social media pages.