Airport opens food drive to support TSA employees 

CASPER (WNE) — The Casper/Natrona County International Airport has once again opened its food drive in support of federal employees working through the partial government shutdown. 

Airport spokeswoman Katie Reed confirmed that on Thursday, adding the airport is also accepting nonperishable household items like paper towels, toilet paper, and detergent on top of the standard nonperishable food items. 

This year, donors have also offered up gift cards. 

"We want to alleviate some of that stress for our folks who are continuing to show up every day," Reed said. 

After Transportation Security Administration employees stopped getting pay checks last month, Reed said the food drive was started back up to help staff members who continued to work. 

The current push is a reboot of a drive the airport first did during the complete government shut down last fall, she said. 

"It's been incredible," Reed said of the support the airport has seen through the food drive. " People have been showing up and donating items pretty consistently."

Though a recent TSA announcement suggested small airports may begin to close because of a lack of staffing if the partial shutdown continues, Reed said she doesn't believe that will be an issue in Casper. 

Reed said the airport hasn't seen call-outs in a higher volume than normal through the shutdown and is optimistic the Natrona County airport won't be affected if that does happen to other small airports. 

She said the airport hasn't seen any resignations because of the shutdown through Thursday.

"At this time, our dedicated TSA partners have continued to show up every day," a Facebook post from the department addressing the concern reads. "We do not anticipate our airport closing due to lack of screening staff." 

This story was published on March 28, 2026.