HONOLULU: Nonprofit organizations and a state agency are helping keep one of Hawaii’s most-visited tourist attractions open during the U.S. government shutdown.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority is providing $125,000 in emergency funding to keep the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center open during the shutdown.
The sunken battleship serves as a memorial for the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Thousands of people visit daily.
Pacific Historic Parks, a nonprofit that supports the memorial, and three nonprofit museums that operate in the orbit of the memorial, have used their own funds to pay salaries and utilities, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
The tourism authority is allocating $14,000 a day to keep the tourist attraction open, Hawaii News Now reported.
Keeping it open is important, said Aileen Utterdyke, president and CEO of Pacific Historic Parks. “It’s a park that represents a lot of people who sacrificed their lives for the United States,” she said.
Federal workers and contractors forced to stay home or work without pay are experiencing mounting stress from the impasse.
For those without a financial cushion, even a few days of lost wages during the shutdown over President Donald Trump’s border wall proposal could have dire consequences. AP
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