Following the government shutdown starting Oct. 1, a local Louisiana restaurant has started giving free meals to employees impacted.

Offering meals to customers who show government ID for free through the month of October to help their community, ruby slipper holds true to its community-rooted values. Regional Operations Manager Lakeisha Britton handles the promotion as one of her responsibilities.

“So far, we’ve served over thousands of meals. I will say our restaurant on Veterans has by far been the busiest, because of the proximity to the airport,” said Britton. “So, y’know we’ll have workers on break, things like that. They’ll come in, grab a free meal before they go in, after they get off. But that particular restaurant off of Veterans has been the biggest.”

With approximately 900,000 employees impacted nationwide by the shutdown, the Ruby Slipper has brought back the promotion from 2019 and has waiters like Samantha Johnson on the job.

“I say upwards of a hundred [customers] every week, it’s been a good bit every single week,” said Johnson. “Sometimes we even get the same faces every week. We love to see it, we love to see the community coming out.”

Louisiana has roughly 19,500 civilian employees according to federal data, some of which have become regulars to the Ruby Slipper.

“Absolutely, we have had some regulars and everybody is so appreciative of y’know, what we’re doing, thank yous, smiles,” said Britton. “Sometimes it’s just the small things that really count, that really make it matter.”